4.-Lust.

5.-Ill Will

6.-Love of the world.

7.-Egotistic longing for a future life.

8.-Pride.

9.-Self-righteousness.

10.-Nescience.

Saphy : Perhaps from the Arabic safi " pure, select, excellent." Certain charm" or amulets worn by the negroes as protection against thunderbolts and diseases, to procure them wives, and avert disasters of all kinds. They are composed of strips of paper on which sentences from the Koran are inscribed, sometimes intermixed with kabalistic signs. These strips are enclosed in silver tubes or silk bags, which are worn near the skin, and often fastened in the dress. Africans of both sexes and all religions are great believers in the occult properties of such talismans; and Mungo Park resorted to the making of Saphy, or Grigris (as they are some times called), as a means of earning his living.

Sapphire : It is understood to make the melancholy cheerful and maintain the power or manly vigour of the body. The high priest of Egypt wore a sapphire upon his shoulder, and Aelian says that it was called truth. The Buddhists still ascribe a sacred magical power to it, and hold that it reconciles man to God. It is a good amulet against fear, promotes the flow of the animal spirits, hindereth ague and gout, promotes chastity, and prevents the eyes from being affected by small-pox.

Sara, St., of Egypt : (See Gypsies.)

Sardius : This gem resembles the cornelian, and is an antidote to the onyx. It prevents unpleasant dreams, makes its possessor wealthy, and sharpens the wit.

Sardou, Victorian : The famous French dramatist was a keen student of occultism, and studied spiritualism with Allan Kardec (q.v.). He achieved great facility as a medium for spirit drawings, and many of the examples by his hand are of great merit artistically as well as from an occult point of view. Some of them are reproduced in M. Camille Flammarion’s book Mysterious Psychic Forces. (See France.)

Sat B’Hai : A Hindu society, the object of which was the study and development of Indian philosophy. It was so called after the bird Malacocersis Grisis, which always flies by sevens. It was introduced into England about the year 1872 by Major J. H. Lawrence Archer. It had seven descending degrees, each of seven disciples, and seven ascending degrees of perfection, Ekata or Unity. It ceased to be necessary on the establishment of the Theosophical Society.

Satan : (See Devil.)

Satanism : (See Devil-worship.)

Saul, Barnabas : (See Dee.)

Scandinavia : For the early history of occultism in Scandinavia (see article Teutons.)

Witchcraft -In medieval times Scandinavian examples of witchcraft are rare, but in 1669 and 1670 a great Outbreak of fanaticism against it commenced in Sweden in the district of Elfdale.

The villages of Mohra and Elfdale are situated in the dales of the mountainous districts of the central parts of Sweden. In the first of the years above mentioned, a strange report went abroad that the children of the neighbourhood were carried away nightly to a place they called Blockula, where they were received by Satan in person; and the children themselves, who were the authors of the report, pointed out to them numerous women, who, they said were witches and carried them thither. The alarm and terror in the district became so great that a report was at last made to the king, who nominated commissioners, partly clergy and partly laymen, to inquire into the extraordinary circumstances which had been brought under his notice, and these commissioners arrived in Mohra and announced their intentions of opening their proceedings on the 13th of August, 1670.

On the 12th of August, the commissioners met at the parsonage-house, and heard the complaints of the minister and several people of the better class, who told them of the miserable condition they were in, and prayed that by some means or other they might be delivered from the calamity. They gravely told the commissioners that by the help of witches some hundreds of their children had been drawn to Satan, who had been seen to go in a visible shape through the country, and to appear daily to the people the poorer sort of them, they said, he had seduced by feasting them with meat and drink,

The commissioners entered upon their duties on the next day with the utmost diligence, and the result of their misguided zeal formed one of the most remarkable examples of cruel and remorseless persecution that stains the annals of sorcery. No less than threescore and ten inhabitants of the village and district of Mohra, three-and-twenty of whom made confessions, were condemned and executed. One woman pleaded that she was with child, and the rest denied their guilt, and these were sent to Fahluna, where most of them were afterwards put to death, Fifteen children were among those who suffered death, and thirty-six more, of different ages between nine and sixteen, were forced to run the gauntlet, and be scourged on the hands at the church-door every Sunday for one year; while twenty more, who had been drawn into these practices more unwillingly, and were very young, were condemned to be scourged with rods upon their hands for three successive Sundays at the church-door. The number of the children accused was about three hundred.

It appears that the commissioners began by taking the confessions of the children, and then they confronted them with the witches whom the children accused as their seducers. The latter, to use the words of the authorised report, having " most of them children with them, which they had either seduced or attempted to seduce, some seven years of’ age, nay, from four to sixteen years," now appeared before the commissioners. " Some of the children complained lamentably of the ‘misery and mischief they were forced sometimes to suffer of the devil and the witches." Being asked, whether they were sure, that they were at any time carried away by the devil? they all replied in the affirmative. " Hereupon the witches themselves were asked, whether the confessions of those children were true, and admonished to confess the truth, that they might turn away from the devil unto the living God. At first, most of them did very stiffly, and without shedding the least tear, deny it, though much against their will and inclination. After this the children were examined every one by themselves, to see whether their confessions did agree or no, and the commissioners found that all of them, except some very little ones, which could not tell all the circumstances, did punctually agree in their confessions of particulars. In the meanwhile, the commissioners that were of the clergy examined the witches, but could not bring them to any confession, all continuing steadfast in their denials, till at last some of them burst into tears, and their confession agreed with what the children said; and these expressed their abhorrence of the fact, and begged pardon. Adding that the devil, whom they called Locyta, had Stopped the mouths of some of them, so loath was he to part with his prey, and had stopped the ears of others. And being now gone from them, they could no longer conceal it; for they had now perceived his treachery." The witches asserted that, the journey to Blockula was not always made with the same kind of conveyance; they commonly used men, beasts, even spits and posts, according as they had opportunity. They preferred, however, riding upon goats, and if they had more children with them than the animal could conveniently carry, they elongated its back by means of a spit anointed with their magical ointment. It was further stated, that if the children did at any time name the names of those, either man or woman, that had been with them, and had carried them away, they were again carried by force, either to Blockula or the crossway, and there beaten, insomuch that some of them died of it; ‘ and this some of the witches confessed, and added, that now they were exceedingly troubled and tortured in their minds for it." One thing was wanting to confirm this circumstance of their confession. The marks of the whip could not be found on the persons of the victims, except on one boy, who had some wounds and holes in his back, that were given him with thorns; but the witches said they would quickly vanish.

The account they gave of Blockula was, that it was situated in a large meadow, like a plain sea, "wherein you can see no end." The house they met at had a great gate painted with many divers colours. Through this gate they went into a little meadow distinct from the other, and here they turned their animals to graze. When they had made use of men for their beasts of burden, they set them up against the wall in a state of helpless slumber, and there they remained till wanted for the homeward flight. In a very large room of this house, stood a long table, at which the witches sat down; and adjoining to this room was another chamber, where there were " lovely and delicate beds."

As soon as they arrived at Blockula, the visitors were required to deny their baptism, and devote themselves body and soul to Satan, whom they promised to serve faithfully. Hereupon he cut their fingers, and they wrote their name with blood in his book. He then caused them to b baptized anew, by priests appointed for that purpose. Upon this the devil gave them a purse, wherein there were filings of clocks, with a big stone tied to it, which they threw into the water, and said, " As these filings of the clock do never return to the clock, from which they were taken, so may my soul never return to heaven!" Another difficulty arose in verifying this statement, that few of the children had any marks on their fingers to show where they had been cut. Bet here again the story was helped by a girl who had her finger much hurt, and who declared, that because she would not stretch out her finger, the devil in anger had thus wounded it.

When these ceremonies were completed, the witches sat down at the table, those whom the fiend esteemed most being placed nearest to him; but the children were made to stand at the door, where he himself gave them meat and drink, Perhaps we may look for the origin of this part of the story in the pages of Pierre de Lancre. The food with which the visitors to Blockula were regaled, consisted of broth, with coleworts and bacon in it; oatmeal bread spread with butter, milk and cheese. Sometimes they said, it tasted very well, and sometimes very ill. After meals they went to dancing, and it was one peculiarity of these northern witches’ sabbaths, that the dance was usually followed by fighting. Those of Elfdale confessed that the devil used to play upon a harp before them. Another peculiarity of these northern witches was, that children resulted from their intercourse with Satan, and these children having married together became the parents of toads and serpents.

The witches of Sweden appear to have been less noxious than those of most other countries, for, whatever they acknowledged themselves, there seems to have been no evidence of mischief done by them. They confessed that they were obliged to promise Satan that they would do all kinds of mischief, and that the devil taught them to milk, which was after this manner. They used to stick a knife in the wall, and hang a kind of label on it, which they drew and stroaked and as long as this lasted, the persons they had power over were miserably plagued, and the beasts were milked that way, till sometimes they died of it. A woman confessed that the devil gave her a wooden knife, wherewith, going into houses, she had power to kill anything she touched with it ; yet there were few that could confess that they had hurt any man or woman. Being asked whether they had murdered any children, they confessed that they had indeed tormented many, but did not know whether any of them died of these plagues, although they said that the devil had showed them several places where he had power to do mischief. The minister of Elfdale declared, that one night these witches were, to his thinking, on the crown of his head, and that from thence he had a long continued pain of the head. And upon this one of the witches confessed that the devil had sent her to torment that minister, and that she was ordered to use a nail, and strike it into his head, but his skull was so hard that the nail would not penetrate it, and merely produced that headache. The hard-headed minister said further, that one night he felt a pain as if he were torn with an instrument used for combing flax, and when he awoke he heard somebody scratching and scraping at the window, but could see nobody; and one of the witches confessed, that she was the person that had thus disturbed him. The minister of Mohra declared also, that one night one of these witches came into his house, and did so violently take him by the throat, that he thought he should have been choked, and awaking, he saw the person that did it, but could not know her; and that for some weeks he was not able to speak, or perform divine service. An old woman of Elfdale confessed that the devil had helped her to make a nail, which she stuck into a boy’s knee, of which stroke the boy remained lame a long time. And she added, that, before she was burned or executed by the hand of justice, the boy would recover.

Another circumstance confessed by these witches was, that the devil gave them a beast, about the shape and bigness of a cat, which they called a carrier; and a bird as big as a raven, but white; and these they could send anywhere, and wherever they came they took away all sorts of victuals, such as butter, cheese, milk, bacon, and all sorts of seeds, and carried them to the witch. What the bird brought they kept for themselves, but what the carrier brought they took to Blockula, where the arch-fiend gave them as much of it as he thought good. The carriers, they said, filled themselves so full oftentimes, that they were forced to disgorge it by the way, and what they thus rendered fell to the ground, and is found in several gardens where coleworts grow, and far from the houses of the witches. It was of a yellow colour like gold, and was called witches’ butter.

Such are the details, as far as they can now be obtained, of this extraordinary delusion, the only one of a similar kind that we know to have occurred in the northern part of Europe during the " age of witchcraft." In other countries we can generally trace some particular cause which gave rise to great persecutions of this kind, but here, as the story is told, we see none, for it is hardly likely that such a strange series of accusations should have been the mere involuntary creation of a party of little children. Suspicion is excited by the peculiar part which the two clergymen of Elfdale and Mohra acted in it, that they were not altogether strangers to the fabrication. They seem to have been weak superstitious men, and perhaps they had been reading the witchcraft books of the south till they imagined the country round them to be over-run with these noxious beings. The proceedings at Mohra caused so much alarm throughout Sweden, that prayers were ordered in all the churches for delivery from the snares of Satan, who was believed to have been let loose in that kingdom. On a sudden a new edict of the king put a stop to the whole process, and the matter was brought to a close rather mysteriously. It is said that the witch prosecution was increasing so much in intensity, that accusations began to be made against people of a higher class in society, and then a complaint was made to the king, and they were stopped

Perhaps the two clergymen themselves became alarmed, but one thing seems certain, that the moment the commission was revoked, and the persecution ceased, no more witches were heard of.

Spiritualism.-In 1843 an epidemic of preaching occurred in Southern Sweden, which provides Ennemoser, with material for an interesting passage in his History of Magic. The manifestation of this was so similar in character to those described elsewhere, that it is unnecessary to allude to it in detail. A writer in the London Medium and Daybreak of 1878 says " It is about a year and a half since I changed my abode from Stockholm to this place, and during that period it is wonderful how Spiritualism has gained ground in Sweden. The leading papers, that used in my time to refuse to publish any article on Spiritualism excepting such as ridiculed the doctrine, have of late thrown their columns wide open to the serious discussion of the matter. Many a Spiritualist in secret, has thus been encouraged to give publicity to his opinions without standing any longer in awe of that demon, public ridicule, which intimidates so many of our brethren. Several of Allan Kardec’s works have been translated into Swedish, among which I may mention his Evangile selon Ie Spiritisme as particularly well-rendered in Swedish by Walter Jochnick. A spiritual Library was opened in Stockholm on the 1st of April last, which will no doubt greatly contribute to the spreading of the blessed doctrine. The visit of Mr. Eglinton to Stockholm was of the greatest benefit to the cause. Let us hope that the stay of Mrs. Esperance in the south of Sweden may have an equally beneficial effect. Notwithstanding all this progress of the cause in the neighbouring country, Spiritualism is looked upon here as something akin to madness, but even here there are thin, very thin rays, and very wide apart, struggling to pierce the darkness. In Norway, spiritualism as known to modern Europe, did not seem to have become existent until about 1880. A writer in a number of the Dawn of Light published in that year says Spiritualism is just commencing to give a sign of its existence here in Norway. The newspapers have begun to attack it as a delusion and the expose’ of Mrs. C., which recently took place at 38, Great Russell Street, London, has made the round through all the papers in Scandinavia. After all, it must sooner or later take root as in all other parts of the world. Mr. Eglinton, the English medium, has done a good work in Stockholm, showing some of the great savants a new world; and a couple of years ago Mr. Slade visited Copenhagen. The works of Mr. Zollner, the great astronomer of Leipzig, have been mentioned in the papers and caused a good deal of sensation.

"Of mediums there are several here, but all, as yet, afraid to speak out. One writes with both hands; a gentleman is developing as a drawing medium. A peasant, who died about five years ago, and lived not far from here, was an excellent healing medium; his name was Knud, and the people had given him the nickname of Vise Knud (the wise Knud) ; directly when he touched a patient he knew if the same could be cured or not, and often, in severe cases, the pains of the sick person went through his own body. He was also an auditive medium, startling the people many times by telling them what was going to happen in the future; but the poor fellow suffered much from the ignorance and fanaticism around him, and was several times put in prison.

"I am doing all I can to make people acquainted with our grand cause."

A second and more hopeful letter of 1881, addressed to the editor of the Revue Spirite, is as follows:-

" My dear Brothers,-Here our science advances without noise. An excellent writing medium has been developed among us, one who writes simultaneously with both hands; while we have music in a room where there are no musical instruments ; and where there is a piano it plays itself. At Bergen, where I have recently been, I found mediums, who in the dark, made sketches-were dessinateurs-using also both hands. I have seen, also, with pleasure that several men of letters and of science have begun to investigate our science spirite. The pastor Eckhoff, of Bergen, has for the second time preached against Spiritualism, ‘ this instrument of the devil, this psychographie’; and to give more of eclat to his sermon he has had the goodness to have it printed; so we see that the spirits are working. The suit against the medium, Mme. F., in London, is going. the rounds of the papers of Christiania; these journals opening their columns, when occasion offers, to ridicule Spiritualism. We are, however, friends of the truth, but there are scabby sheep among us of a different temperament. From Stockholm they write me that a library of spiritual works has been opened there, and that they are to have a medium from Newcastle, with whom seances are to be held."

In the London Spiritual Magazine of May, 1885, is a long and interesting paper on Swedish Spiritualism, by William Howitt, in which he gives quite a notable collection of narratives concerning Phenomenal Spiritual Manifestations in Sweden, most of which were furnished by an eminent and learned Swedish gentleman - Count Piper. The public have become so thoroughly sated with tales of hauntings, apparitions, prevision, etc., that Count Piper’s narrations would present few, if any features of interest, save in justification of one assertion, that Spiritualism is rife in human experience everywhere, even though it may not take the same form as a public movement, that it has done in America and England.

As early as 1864, a number of excellent leading articles commending the belief in Spiritual ministry, and the study of such phenomena as would promote communion between the "two worlds," appeared in the columns of the Afton Blad, one of the most popular journals circulated in Sweden.

Schroepfer : (See Germany.)

Scotland : (For early matter see the article Celts.)

Witchcraft.-Witchcraft and sorcery appear to have been practised in the earliest historical and traditional times. It is related that during the reign of Natholocus in the second century there dwelt in Iona a witch of great renown, and so celebrated for her marvellous power that the king sent one of his captains to consult her regarding the issue of a rebellion then troubling his kingdom. The witch declared that within a short period the king would be murdered, not by his open enemies but by one of his most favoured friends, in whom he had most especial trust. The messenger enquired the assassin’s name. "Even by thine own hands as shall be well-known within these few dayes," replied the witch. So troubled was the captain on hearing these words that he railed bitterly against her, vowing that he would see her burnt before he would commit such a villainous crime. But after reviewing the matter carefully in his mind, he arrived at the conclusion that if he informed the king of the witch’s prophecy, the king might for the sake of his personal safety have him put to death, so thereupon he decoyed Natholocus into his private chamber and falling upon him with a dagger slew him outright. About the year 388 the devil was so enraged at the piety of St. Patrick that he assailed the saint by the whole band of witches in Scotland. St. Patrick fled to the Clyde embarking in a small boat for Ireland. As witches cannot pursue their victims over running water, they flung a huge rock after the escaping saint, which however fell harmless to the ground, and which tradition says now forms Dumbarton Rock. The persecution of witches constitutes one of the blackest chapters of history. All classes, Catholic and Protestant alike, pursued the crusade with equal vigour, undoubtedly inspired by the passage in Exodus xxll., 18. While it is most probable that the majority of those who practised witchcraft and sorcery were of weak mind and enfeebled intellect, yet a large number adopted the supposed art for the purpose of intimidation and extortion from their neighbours. Witches were held to have sold themselves body and soul to the devil. The ceremony is said to consist of kneeling before the evil one, placing one hand on her head and the other under her feet, and dedicating all between to the service of the devil, and also renouncing baptism. The witch was thereafter deemed to be incapable of reformation. No minister of any denomination whatever would intercede or pray for her. On sealing the compact the devil proceeded to put his mark upon her. Writing on the "Witches’ Mark" Mr. Bell, minister of Gladsmuir in 1705 says:-

"The witches’ mark is sometimes like a blew spot, or a little tale, or reid spots, like fleabiting, sometimes the flesh is sunk in and hollow and this is put in secret places, as among the hair of the head, or eyebrows, within the lips, under the armpits, and even in the most secret parts of the body." Mr. Robert Kirk of Aberfoill in his Secret Commonwealth states: "A spot that I have seen, as a small mole, horny, and brown coloured, throw which mark when a large brass pin was thrust (both in buttock, nose, and rooff of the mouth) till it bowed (bent) and became crooked, the witches, both men and women, nather felt a pain nor did bleed, nor knew the precise time when this was doing to them (their eyes only being covered)."

In many cases the mark was invisible, and as it was considered that no pain accompanied the pricking of it, there arose a body of persons who pretending great skill therein constituted themselves as " witch prickers " and whose office was to discover and find out witches. The method employed was barbarous in the extreme. Having stripped and bound his victim the witch pricker proceeded to thrust his needles into every part of the body. When at last the victim worn out with exhaustion and agony remained silent, the witch pricker declared that he had discovered the mark. Another test for detection was trial by water. The suspects were tied hands and great toes together, wrapped in a sheet and flung into a deep pool. In cases where the body floated, the water of baptism was supposed to give up the accused, while those who sank to the bottom were absolved, but no attempt was made at rescue. When confession was demanded the most horrible of tortures were resorted to, burning with irons being generally the last torture applied. In some cases a diabolic contrivance called the ‘ witches’ bridle " was used. The bridle encircled the victim’s head while an iron bit was thrust into the mouth from which prongs protruded piercing the tongue, palate and cheeks. In cases of execution, the victim was usually strangled and thereafter burned at the stake.

Witches were accused of a great variety of crimes. A common offence was to bewitch milch cattle by turning their milk sour, or curtailing the supply, raising storms, stealing children from their graves, and promoting various illnesses. A popular device was to make a waxen image of their victim, thrust pins into it and sear it with hot irons, all of which their victim felt and at length succumbed. Upon domestic animals they cast an evil eye, causing emaciation and refusal to take food till at length death ensued. To those who believed in them and acknowledged their power, witches were supposed to use their powers for good by curing disease and causing prosperity. Witches had a weekly meeting at which the devil presided, every Saturday commonly called "the witches’ Sabbath," their meetings generally being held in desolate places or in ruined churches, to which they rode through the air mounted on broomsticks. If the devil was not present on their arrival, they evoked him by beating the earth with a fir-stick, and saying " Rise up foul thief." The witches appeared to see him in different guises; to some he appeared as a boy clothed in green, others saw him dressed in white, while to others he appeared mounted on a black horse, After delivering a mock sermon, be held a court at which the witches had to make a full statement of their doings during the week. Those who had not accomplished sufficient evil were belaboured with their own broomsticks, while those who had been more successful were rewarded with enchanted bones. The proceedings finished with a dance, the music to which the fiend played on his bagpipes.

Robert Burns in his Tale of Tam o’ Shanter gives a graphic description of this orgy. There were great annual gatherings at Candlemas, Beltane and Hallow-eve. These were of an International character at which the witch sisterhood of all nations assembled, those who had to cross the sea performing the journey in barges of egg-shell, while their aerial journeys were on goblin horses with enchanted bridles.

Witchcraft was first dealt with by law in Scotland when by a statute passed in 1563 in the Parliament of Queen Mary it was enacted : " That na maner of person nor persons of quhatsumever estaite, degree or condition they be of, take upon hand in onie times hereafter to use onie maner of witchcraft, sorcerie, or necromancie, under the paine of death, alsweil to be execute against the user, abuser, as the seeker of the response of consultation."

The great Reformer, John Knox, was accused by the Catholics of Scotland of being a renowned wizard and having. by sorcery raised up saints in the churchyard of St. Andrews when Satan himself appeared and so terrified Knox’s secretary that he became insane and died. Knox was also charged that by his magical arts in his old age he persuaded the beautiful young daughter of Lord Ochiltree to marry him. Nicol Burne bitterly denounces Knox for having secured the affections of "ane damosil of nobil blude, and he ane auld decrepit creatur of maist bais degree of onie that could be found in the country."

There were numerous trials for witchcraft in the Justiciary Court in Edinburgh and at the Circuit Courts, also session records preserved from churches all over Scotland show that numerous cases were dealt with by the local authorities and church officials, A. J. B. G.

Rodgers, in his Social Life in Scotland, says : " From the year 1479 when the first capital sentence was carried out thirty thousand persons had on the charge of using enchantment been in Great Britain cruelly immolated of these one fourth belonged to Scotland. No inconsiderable number of those who suffered on the charge of sorcery laid claim to necromantic acts with intents felonious or unworthy.

When James VI. of Scotland, in the year 1603, was called upon to ascend the throne of Great Britain and Ireland, his own native kingdom was in rather a curious condition. James himself was a man of considerable learning, intimate with Latin and Theology, yet his book on Demonology marks him as distinctly superstitious and, while education and even scholarship were comparatively common at this date in Scotland, more common in fact than they were in contemporary England, the great mass of Scottish people shared abundantly their sovereign’s dread of witches and the like. The efforts of Knox and his doughty confreres, it is true, had brought about momentous changes in Scottish life, but if the Reformation ejected certain superstitions it undoubtedly tended to introduce others. For that stern Calvinistic faith, which now began to take root in Scotland, nourished the idea that sickness and accident are a mark of divine anger, nor did this theory cease to be common in the north till long after King James’s day.

It is a pity that the royal author, in the curious treatise mentioned above, volunteers but few precise facts anent the practitioners of magic who throve in Scotland during his reign. But other sources of information indicate that these people were very numerous, and whereas, in Elizabethan England, it was customary to put a witch to death by the merciful process of hanging, in Jacobean Scotland it was usual to take stronger measures. In short, the victim was burnt at the stake ; and it is interesting to note that on North Berwick Law, in the county of East Lothian, there is standing to this day a tall stone which, according to local tradition, was erstwhile used for the ghastly business in question. Yet it would be wrong to suppose that witches and sorcerers, though handled roughly now and then, were regarded with universal hatred; for in seventeenth century Scotland medicine and magic went hand in hand, and the man suffering from a physical malady, particularly one whose cause he could not understand, very seldom entrusted himself to a professional leech, and much preferred to consult one who claimed healing capacities derived from intercourse with the unseen world. Physicians of the latter kind, however, were generally experts in the art of poisoning; and, while a good many cures are credited to them, their triumphs in the opposite direction would seem to have been much more numerous. Thus we find that in July, 1702, a certain James Reid of Musselburgh was brought to trial, being charged not merely with achieving miraculous cures, but with contriving the murder of one David Libbertoun, a baker in Edinburgh. This David and his family, it transpires, were sworn enemies of a neighbouring household, Christie by name, and betimes their feud grew as fierce as that between the Montagues and Capulets; so the Christies swore they would bring things to a conclusion, and going to Reid they petitioned his nefarious aid. His first act was to bewitch nine stones, these to be cast on the fields of the offending baker with a view to destroying his crops; while Reid then proceeded to enchant a piece of raw flesh, and’ also to make a statuette of wax-the nature of the design is not recorded, but presumably Libbertoun himself was represented-and Mrs. Christie was enjoined to thrust the meat under her enemy’s door, and then to go home and melt the waxwork before her own fire. These instructions she duly obeyed, and a little later the victim breathed his last; but Reid did not go unscathed, and after his trial the usual fate of burning alive was meted out to him.

A like sentence was passed in July 1605 on Patrick Lowrie, a native of Halic in Ayrshire, and known there as Pat the Witch," who was found guilty of foregathering with endless sorceresses of the neighbourhood, and of assisting them in disinterring bodies which they afterwards

dismembered. Doubtless" Alloway’s auld haunted Kirk," sacred to the memory of Burns, was among those ransacked for corpses by the band ; yet if the crime was a gruesome one it was harmless withal, and assuredly Lowrie’s ultimate’ fate was distinctly a hard one! On the other hand Isobel Griersone, a Prestonpans woman, received no more than justice when burnt to death on the Castle Rock, Edinburgh, in March 1607; for the record of her poisonings was a formidable one, rivalling that of Wainewright or that of Cellini himself while it is even recorded that she contrived to put an end to several people simply by cursing them Equally wonderful were the exploits of another sorceress, Belgis Todd of Longniddry, who is reported to have compassed the death of a man she hated just by enchanting his cat; but this picturesque modus operandi was scorned by a notorious Perthshire witch Janet Irwing, who about the year 1610 poisoned sundry members of the family of Erskine of Dun, in the county of Angus. The criminal was detected anon, and suffered the usual fate; while a few years later a long series of tortures, culminating in burning, were inflicted on Margaret Dein (nee Barclay), whose accomplishments appear to have been of no commonplace nature. The wife of a burgess of Irvine, John Dein, this woman conceived a violent aversion for her brother-in-law, Archibald; and on one occasion, when the latter was setting out for France, Margaret hurled imprecations at his ship, vowing none of its crew or passengers would ever return to their native Scotland. Months went by, and no word of Archibald’s arrival reached Irvine; while one day a pedlar named Stewart came to John Dein’s house, and declared that the baneful prophecy had been duly fulfilled. The municipal authorities now heard of the affair, and arresting Stewart, whom they had long suspected of practising magic, they commenced to cross-examine him. At first he would tell nothing, but when torture had loosened his tongue he confessed how, along with Margaret Dein, he had made a clay model of the ill-starred barque, and thrown this into the sea on a particularly stormy night. His audience were horrified at the news, but they hastened to lay hands on the sorceress, whereupon they dealt with her as noted above.

No doubt this tale, and many others like it, have blossomed very considerably in the course of being handed down from generation to generation, and no doubt the witches of Jacobean Scotland are credited with triumphs far greater than they really achieved. At the same time, scanning the annals of sorcery, we find that a number of its practitioners avowed stoutly, when confronted by a terrible death, that they had been initiated in their craft by the foul fiend himself, or haply by a band of fairies; and thus, whatever capacities these bygone magicians really had, it is manifest that they possessed in abundance that confidence which is among the secrets of power, and is perhaps the very key to success in any line of action. Small wonder, then, that they were dreaded by the simple, illiterate folk of their day ; and, musing on these facts, we feel less amazed at the credulity displayed by an erudite man like James VI., we are less surprised at his declaring that all sorcerers" ought to be put to death according to the law of God, the civill and imperiale Law, and municipall Law of all Christian nations."

The last execution of a witch in Scotland took place in Sutherland in 1722. An old woman residing at Loth was charged amongst other crimes of having transformed her daughter into a pony and shod by the devil which caused the girl to turn lame both in hands and feet, a calamity which entailed upon her son. Sentence of death was pronounced by Captain David Ross, the Sheriff-substitute. Rodgers relates " The poor creature when lead to the’ stake was unconscious of the stir made on her account, and warming her wrinkled hands at the fire kindled to consume her, said she was thankful for so good a blaze. For his rashness in pronouncing the sentence of death, the Sheriff was emphatically reproved."

The reign of ignorance and superstition was fast drawing to a close.

Witchcraft, if it can be so called nowadays, is dealt with under the laws pertaining to rogues, vagabonds, fortune-tellers, gamesters, and such like characters. (See Fortune-telling.)

Magic and Demonology.-Magic of the lower cultus, perhaps the detritus of Druidism, appears to have been common in Scotland until a late period. We find in the pages of Adamnan that the Druids were regarded by St. Columba and his priest as magicians, and that he met their sorcery with a superior celestial magic of his own. Thus does the religion of one race become magic in the eyes of another. Notices of sorcery in Scotland before the thirteenth century are scanty, if we except the tradition that Macbeth encountered three witches who prophesied his fate to him. We have no reason to believe that Thomas the Rhymer (who has been endowed by later superstition with adventures similar to those of Tannhauser) was other than a minstrel and maker of epigrams, or that Sir Michael Scot was other than a scholar and man of letters. Workers of sorcery were numerous but obscure, and although often of noble birth as Lady Glamis and Lady Fowlis, were probably very ignorant persons. We get a glimpse of Scottish demonology in the later middle ages in the rhymed fragment known as "The Cursing of Sir John Rowil," a priest of Corstorphine, near Edinburgh, which dates perhaps from the last quarter of the fifteenth century. It is an invective against certain persons who have rifled his poultry-yard, upon whom the priest calls down the divine vengeance. The demons who were to torment the evildoers are: Garog, Harog, Sym Skynar, Devetinus "the devill that maid the dyce," Firemouth, Cokadame, Tutivillus, Browny, and Syr Garnega, who may be the same as that Girnigo, to whom cross children are often likened by angry mothers of the Scottish working-classes, in such a phrase as " eh, ye’re a wee girnigo," and the Scottish verb, to "girn," may find its origin in the name of a medieval fiend, the last shadow of some Teutonic or Celtic deity of unlovable attributes. In Sym Skynar, we may have Skyrnir, a Norse giant in whose glove Thor found shelter from an earthquake, and who sadly fooled him and his companions. Skyrnir was, of course, one of the Jotunn or Norse Titans, and probably one of the powers of winter ; and he may have received the popular surname of " Sym" in the same manner as we speak of " Jack" Frost. A great deal has still to be done in unearthing the minor figures of Scottish mythology and demonology, and even the greater ones have not received the attention due to them. In Newhaven, a fishing district near Edinburgh, for example, we find the belief current in a fiend called Brounger, who is described as an old man who levies a toll of fish and oysters upon the local fisherman. If he is not placated with these, he wreaks vengeance on the persons who fail to supply him. He is also described as a Flint and the son of a Flint," which proves conclusively that, like Thor and many other gods of Asia and America, he was a thunder or weather deity. In fact his name is probably a mere corruption of an ancient Scandinavian word meaning "to strike," which still survives in the Scottish expression to " make a breenge " at one. To return to instances of practical magic, a terrifying and picturesque legend tells how Sir Lewis Bellenden, a lord of session, and superior of the Barony of Broughton, near Edinburgh, succeeded by the aid of a sorcerer in raising the Devil in the backyard of his own house in the Canongate, some-where about the end of the sixteenth century. Sir Lewis was a notorious trafficker with witches, with whom his barony of Broughton was overrun. Being desirous of beholding his Satanic majesty in person, he secured the services of one Richard Graham. The results of the evocation were disastrous to the inquisitive judge, whose nerves were so shattered at the apparition of the Lord of Hades that he fell ill and shortly afterwards expired.

The case of Major Weir is one of the most interesting in the annals of Scottish sorcery. " It is certain," says Scott, "that no story of witchcraft or necromancy, so many of which occurred near and in Edinburgh, made such a lasting impression on the public mind as that of Major Weir. The remains of the house in which he and his sister lived are still shown at the head of the West Bow, which has a gloomy aspect, well suited for a necromancer. It was at different times a brazier’s shop and a magazine for lint, and in my younger days was employed for the latter use; but no family would inhabit the haunted walls as a residence; and bold was the urchin from the High School who dared approach the gloomy ruin at the risk of seeing the Major’s enchanted staff parading through the old apartments, or hearing the hum of the necromantic wheel, which procured for his sister such a character as a spinner.

"The case of this notorious wizard was remarkable chiefly from his being a man of some condition (the son of a gentleman, and his mother a lady of family in Clydesdale), which was seldom the case with those that fell under similar accusations. It was also remarkable in his case that he had been a Covenanter, and peculiarly attached to that cause. In the years of the Commonwealth this man was trusted and employed by those who were then at the head of affairs, and was in 1649 commander of the City-Guard of Edinburgh, which procured him his title of Major. In this capacity he was understood, as was indeed implied in the duties of that officer at the period, to be very strict in executing severity upon such Royalists as fell under his military charge. It appears that the Major, with a maiden sister who had kept his house, was subject to fits of’ melancholic lunacy, an infirmity easily reconcilable with the formal pretences which he made to a high show of religious zeal, He was peculiar in his gift of prayer, and, as was the custom of the period, was often called to exercise his talent by the bedside of sick persons, until it came to be observed that, by some association, with it is more easy to conceive than to explain, he could not pray with the same warmth and fluency of expression unless when he had in his hand a stick of peculiar shape and appearance, which he generally walked with. It was noticed, in short, that when this stick was taken from him, his wit and talent appeared to forsake him. This Major Weir was seized by the magistrates on a strange whisper that became current respecting vile practices, which he seems to have admitted without either shame or contrition. The disgusting profligacies which he confessed were of such a character that it may be charitably hoped most of them were the fruits of a depraved imagination, though he appears to have been in many respects a wicked and criminal hypocrite. When he had completed his confession, he avowed solemnly that he had not confessed the hundredth part of the crimes which he had committed. From this time he would answer no interrogatory, nor would he have recourse to prayer, arguing that, as he had no hope whatever of escaping Satan, there was no need of incensing him by vain efforts at repentance. His witchcraft seems to have been taken for granted on his own confession, as his indictment was chiefly founded on the same document, in which he alleged he had never seen the devil, but any feeling he had of him was in the dark. He received sentence of death, which he suffered 12th April, 1670, at the Gallow-hill, between Leith and Edinburgh. He died so stupidly sullen and impenitent as to justify the opinion that he was oppressed with a kind of melancholy frenzy, the consequence perhaps of remorse, but such as urged him not to repent, but to despair. It seems probable that he was burnt alive. His sister, with whom he was supposed to have had an incestuous connection, was condemned also to death, leaving a stronger and more explicit testimony of their mutual sins than could be extracted from the Major. She gave, as usual, some account of her connection with the queen of the fairies, and acknowledged the assistance she received from that sovereign in spinning an unusual quantity of yarn. Of her brother she said that one day a friend called upon them at noonday with a fiery chariot, and invited them to visit a friend at Dalkeith, and that while there her brother received information of the event of the battle of Worcester. No one saw the style of their equipage except themselves. On the scaffold this woman, determining, as she said, to die " with the greatest shame possible" was with difficulty prevented from throwing off her clothing before the people, and with scarce less trouble was she flung from the ladder by the executioner. Her last words were in the tone of the sect to which her brother had so long affected to belong:

"Many," she said, " weep and lament for a poor old wretch like me; but alas, few are weeping for a broken covenant."

Alchemy.- James IV. was attached to the science of alchemy. "Dunbar speaks of the patronage which the king bestowed upon certain adventurers, who had studied the mysteries of alchemy, and were ingenious in making ‘ quintiscence’ which should convert other metals into pure gold; and in the Treasurer’s Accounts there are numerous payments for the ‘quinta essentia,’ including wages to the persons employed, utensils of various kinds, coals and wood for the furnaces, and for a variety of other materials, such as quicksilver, aqua vitae, litharge, auri, fine tin, burnt silver, alum, salt and eggs, saltpetre, etc. Considerable sums were also paid to several ‘ Potingairs’ for stuff of various kinds to the Quinta Essentia. Thus, on the 3rd of March, 1501, ‘the king sent to Strivelin (Stirling) four Harry nobles in gold, ‘-a sum equal, as it is stated, to nine pounds Scots money-’ for the leech to multiply.’ On the 27th of May, 1502, the Treasurer paid to Robert Bartoun, one of the king’s mariners, ‘ for certain droggis (drugs) brocht home by him to the French leich, £31 : 4 : o.’ On the 11th of February, 1503-4, we find twenty shillings given’ to the man suld mak aurum potabile, be the king’s commands.’ And on the 13th of October, 1507, the Treasurer paid six pounds for a puncheon of wine to the Abbot of Tungland, to’ mak Quinta Essentia.’ The credulity and indiscriminate generosity of the Scottish monarch appear to have collected around him a multitude of quacks of all sorts, for, besides the Abbot, mention is made of ‘ the leech with the curland hair’ ; of ‘the lang Dutch doctor,’ of one Fullertone, who was believed to possess the secret of making precious stones ; of a Dr. Ogilvy who laboured hard at the transmutation of metals, and many other empirics, whom James not only supported in their experiments, but himself assisted in their laboratory. The most noted of these adventurers was the person who is variously styled in the Treasurer’s Accounts ‘the French Leich,’ ‘ Maister John the French Leich,’ ‘ Maister John the French Medicinar,’ and ‘French Maister John.’ The real name of this empiric was John Damian; and we learn from Dunbar that he was a native of Lombardy, and had practised surgery and other arts in France before his arrival in Scotland. His first appearance at the court of James was in the capacity of a French leech, and as he is mentioned among the persons who received ‘ leveray’ in 1501-2, there can be no doubt that he held an appointment as a physician in the royal household. He soon succeeded in ingratiating himself with the king, and it is probable that it was from him that James imbibed a strong passion for alchemy, as he about this time erected at Stirling a furnace for prosecuting such experiments, and continued during the rest of his reign to expend considerable sums of money in attempts to discover the philosopher’s stone. ‘Maister John,’ says Bishop Lesley, ‘ caused the king believe, that he by multiplying and utheris his inventions sold make fine gold of uther metal, quhilk science he callit the Quintassence, whereupon the king made great cost, but all in vain.’ There are numerous entries in the Treasurer’s Accounts of sums paid for saltpetre, bellows, two great stillatours, brass mortars, coals, and numerous vessels of various shapes, sizes, and denominations, for the use of this foreign adept in his mystical studies. ‘ These, however, were not his sole occupations ; for after the mysterious labours of the day were concluded, Master John was wont to play at cards with the sovereign-a mode by which he probably transferred the contents of the royal exchequer into his own purse, as efficaciously as by his distillations.’ We find that on the 4th of March, 1501, nine pounds five shillings were paid ‘ to the king and the French leich to play at cartis.’ A few months later, on the occasion of a temporary visit which the empiric found it necessary to pay to France, James made him a present of his own horse and two hundred pounds. Early in the year 1504, the Abbot of Tungland, in Galloway, died, and the king, with a reckless disregard of the dictates of duty, and even of common decency, appointed this unprincipled adventurer to the vacant office. On the 11th March, the Treasurer paid ‘to Gareoch Parsuivant fourteen shillings to pass to Tungland for the Abbacy to French Maister John.’ On the 12th of the same month, ‘by the king’s command,’ he paid ‘to Bardus Altovite Lumbard twenty-five pounds for Maister John, the French Mediciner, new maid Abbot of Tungland, whilk he aucht (owed) to the said Bardus ; ‘ and a few days later on the 17th, there was given ‘to Maister John the new maid Abbot of Tungland, seven pounds.’ Three years after, in 1507, July 27, occurs the following entry: ‘ Item,. lent, by the king’s command to the Abbot of Tungland, and can nocht be gettin fra him £33 : 6: 8.’ An adventure which befel this dexterous impostor afforded great amusement to the Scottish court. On the occasion of an embassy setting out from Stirling to the court of France, he had the assurance to declare that by means of a pair of artificial wings which he had constructed, he would undertake to fly to Paris and arrive long before the ambassadors. ‘This time,’ says Bishop Lesley, ‘there was an Italiane with the king, who was made Abbot of Tungland. This abbot tuke in hand to flie with wings, and to be in France before the said ambassadors; and to that effect he caused make ane pair of wings of feathers, quhilk bein festinitt uponn him he flew off the castle-wall of Stirling but shortly he fell to the ground and broke his thie-bane; but the wyte (blame) thereof he ascribed to their beand some hen feathers in the wings, quhilk yarnit, and coveted the myddin and not the skies.’ This incident gave rise to Dunbar’s satirical ballad entitled, ‘ Of the Fenyeit Friar of Tungland,’ in which the poet exposes in the most sarcastic strain the pretensions of the luckless adventurer, and relates with great humour the result of his attempt to soar into the skies, when he was dragged to the earth by the low-minded propensities of the ‘ hen feathers,’ which he had inadvertently admitted into the construction of his wings. The unsuccessful attempt of the abbot, though, according to Lesley, it subjected him to the ridicule of the whole kingdom, does not appear to have lost him the king’s favour, for the Treasurer’s books, from October, 1507, to August, 1508, repeatedly mention him as having played at dice and cards with his majesty; and on the 8th of September, 1508, ‘Damiane, Abbot of Tungland,’ obtained the royal permission to pursue his studies abroad during the space of five years. He must have returned to Scotland, however, before the death of James; and the last notice given to this impostor is quite in character. On the 27th of March, 1513, the sum of twenty pounds was paid to him for his journey to the mine in Crawford Moor, where the king had at that time artisans at work searching for gold." From this reign to that of Mary no magician or alchemical practitioner of note appears to have existed in Scotland, and in the reign of James VI. too great severity was exhibited against such to permit of them avowing themselves publicly. In James’s reign, however, lived the celebrated Alexander Seton (q.v.), of Port Seton near Edinburgh, known abroad as ‘The Cosmopolite’ who is said to have succeeded in achieving the transmutation of metals. L S.

Highlands.-Pagan Scotland appears to have been entirely devoid of benevolent deities. Those representatives of the spirit world who were on friendly terms with mankind were either held captive by magic spells, or had some sinister object in view which caused them to act with the most plausible duplicity. The chief demon or deity - one hesitates which to call her-was a one-eyed Hag who had tusks like a wild bear. She is referred to in folk tales as" the old wife" (Cailleach), " Grey Eyebrows" "the Yellow Muitearteach," etc., and reputed to be a great worker of spells. Apparently she figured in a lost creation myth, for fragmentary accounts survive of how she fashioned the hills, brought lochs into existence and caused whirlpools by vengeful operations in the sea. She is a lover of darkness, desolations and winter. With her hammer she alternately splinters mountains, prevents the growth of grass or raises storms. Numerous wild animals follow her, including deer, goats, wild boars. When one of her sons is thwarted in his love affairs by her, he transforms her into a mountain boulder " looking over the sea," a form she retains during the summer. She is liberated again on the approach of winter. During the Spring months the Hag drowns fishermen and preys on the food supply : she also steals children and roasts them in her cave. Her progeny includes a brood of monstrous giants each with several heads and arms. These are continually operating against mankind, throwing down houses, abducting women and destroying growing crops. Heroes who fight against them require the assistance of the witch who is called " Wise Woman," from whom they obtain magic wands. The witch of Scottish folk tales is the " friend of man," and her profession was evidently regarded in ancient times as a highly honourable one. Wizards also enjoyed high repute ; they were the witch - doctors, priests and magicians of the Scottish Pagans, and it was not until the sixteenth century that legal steps were taken to suppress them in the Highland districts. There was no sun-worship or moon-worship in Scotland; neither sun nor moon were individualised in the Gaelic language; these bodies; however were reputed to exercise a magical influence. The moon especially was a " Magic Tank " from which supplies of power were drawn by those capable of performing requisite ceremonies. But although there were no lunar or solar spirits, there were numerous earth and water spirits. The water wife," like the English " mere wife," was a greatly dreaded being who greedily devoured victims. She must not be confused with the Banshee, that Fate whose chief business it was to foretell disasters, either by washing blood-stained garments or knocking, knocking on a certain boulder beside a river, or in the locality where some great tragedy was impending. The water wife usually confronted a late traveller at a ford. She claimed him as her own and if he disputed her claim, asked what weapons he had to use against her. The unwary one named each in turn, and when he did so the power to harm her passed away. One story of this character runs : "The wife rose up against the smith who rode his horse, and she said, "I have you: what have you against me ?"" My sword," the man answered. " I have that," she said, what else ? " "My shield," the man said. " I have that and you are mine." "But," protested the man, " I have something else." "What is that? " the water wife demanded. To this question the cautious smith answered, "I have the long, grey, sharp thing at my thigh." This was his dirk, and not having named it, he was able to make use of it. As he spoke he flung his plaid round the water wife and lifted her up on his horse behind him. Enclosed in the magic circle she was powerless to harm him, and he rode home with her, deaf to her entreaties and promises. He took her to his smithy and tied her to the anvil. That night her brood came to release her. They raised a tempest and tore the roof off the smithy, but the smith defied them. When day dawned they had to retreat. Then he bargained with the water wife, and she consented if he would release her that neither he nor any of his descendants should ever be drowned in any three rivers he might name. He named three and received her promise, but as she made her escape she reminded him of a fourth river. " It is mine still," she added. In that particular river the smith himself ultimately perished." To this day fishermen will not name either the fish they desire to procure or those that prey on their catches. Haddocks are " white bellies," salmon "red ones," and the dog-fish "the big black fellow." It is also regarded unlucky to name a minister, or refer to Sunday, in a fishing boat-a fact which suggests that in early Christian times fishermen might be pious churchmen on land but continued to practise paganism when they went to sea, like the Icelandic Norsemen who believed that Christ ruled their island, and Thor the ocean. Fairies must not be named on Fridays or at Hallowe’en, and Beltain (May Day) when charm fires were lit.

Earth worship, or rather the propitiation of earth spirits, was a prominent feature of Scottish paganism. There again magic played a leading role. Compacts were confirmed by swearing over a piece of turf, certain moors or mounds were set apart for ceremonial practices, and these were visited for the performance of child-procuring and other ceremonies which were performed at a standing stone. In cases of sickness a divination cake was baked and left at a sacred place; if it disappeared during the night, the patient was supposed to recover; if it remained untouched until the following morning it was believed that the patient would die. This practice is not yet obsolete. Offerings were constantly made to the earth spirits. In a witch trial recorded in Humbie Kirk Session Register (23rd September, 1649) one Agnes Gourlay is accused of having made offerings of milk, saying, " God betuch ws to; they. are wnder the yird that have as much need of it as they that are above the yird" ; i.e., " God preserve us too ; they are under the earth that have as much need of it as they that are above the earth." The milk poured out upon the earth at magical ceremonies was supposed to go to the fairies. Gruagach stones have not yet entirely vanished in the Highlands. These are flat stones with deep cup" marks. After a cow is milked, the milker pours into a hole the portion of milk required by the Gruagach, a long-haired spirit who is usually " dressed like a gentleman." If no offering is given to him, the cream will not rise on the milk, and, if it does the churning will be a failure. There are interesting records in the Presbytery records of Dingwall, Ross-shire, regarding the prevalence of milk pouring and other ceremonies during the seventeenth century. Among the "abominations" referred to are those for which Gairloch parish continued to be notorious-frequent approaches to some ruinous chappels and circulateing them ; and that future events in reference especiallie to lyfe and death, in takeing of journeyes, was exspect to be manifested by a holl (hole) of a round stone quherein (wherein) they tryed the entering of their heade, which (if they) could doe, to witt, be able to put in their heade, they exspect thair returning to that place, and failing they considered it ominous." Objection was also taken by the horrified Presbytery to "their adoring of wells and superstitious monuments and stones," and to the " sacrifice of bulls at a certaine tyme uppon the 25 of August" and to "pouring milk upon hills as oblationes."

The seer was usually wrapped in the skin of a sacrificed bull and left lying all night beside a river. He was visited by supernatural beings in the darkness and obtained answers regarding future events. Another way to perform this divination ceremony was to roast a live cat. The cat was turned on a spit until the " Big Cat" (the devil) appeared and either granted the wish of the performer of the ceremony, or foretold what was to take place in answer to a query. At the present day there are many surviving beliefs regarding witchcraft, fairies, the evil eye, second sight and magical charms to cure or injure.

Individuals, domesticated animals and dwellings are charmed against witchcraft by iron and certain herbs or berries. The evil eye influence is dispelled by drinking "water of silver" from a wooden bowl or ladle. The water is taken from a river or well of high repute ; silver is placed in it; then a charm is repeated, and when it has been passed over a fire, the victim is given to drink and what remains is sprinkled round the hearth-stone with ceremony which varies in districts. Curative charms are handed down in families from a male to a female and a female to a male. Blood-stopping charms are still regarded with great sanctity and the most persistent collectors have been unable to obtain them from those who are reported to be able to use these with effect. Accounts are still given of " blood-stopping" from a distance. Although the possessor of the power has usually a traditional charm, he or she rarely uses it without praying also. Some Highland doctors bear testimony in private to the wonderful effects of " blood-stopping" operations. A few years ago a medical officer of Inverness-shire stated in his official report to the County Council that he was watching with interest the operations of " King’s Evil Curers " who still enjoy great repute in the Western Isles. These are usually seventh sons." " Second-sight," like the power to cure and stop blood, runs in families. There is not a parish in the Scottish Highlands without its family in which one or more individuals are reputed to have occult powers. Some have visions either while awake or asleep. Others hear ominous sounds on occasions and are able to understand what they signify. Certain individuals confess, but with no appreciation of the faculty, that they are sometimes, not always, able to foretell that a person is likely to die are long. Two instances of this kind may be given. A younger brother caught a chill. When an elder brother visited him he knew at once the young man would die soon, and communicated a statement to that effect to a mutual friend. According to medical opinion the patient who was not confined to bed, was in no danger, but three months afterwards he developed serious symptoms and died suddenly. When intelligence of the death was communicated to the elder brother he had a temporary illness. The same individual met a gentleman in a friend’s house and had a similar experience: he "felt" he could not explain how, that this man was near death. On two occasions within the following week he questioned the gentleman’s daughter regarding her father’s health and was informed that he was "as usual." The daughter was surprised at the inquiries. Two days after this meeting the gentleman in question expired suddenly while sitting in his chair. Again the individual, on hearing of the death, had a brief but distressing illness, with symptoms usually associated with shock. The mother of this man has a similar faculty. On several occasions she has seen lights. One day during the Boer War an officer passing her door bade her good-bye as he had been ordered to South Africa. She said, " He will either be slain or come back deformed," and turned ill immediately. A few months afterwards the officer was wounded in the lower jaw with a bullet and returned home with his face much deformed.

The " Second-sight" faculty manifests itself in various ways, as these instances show, and evidence that it is possessed by individuals may occur only once or twice in a lifetime. There are cases, however, in which it is constantly active. Those who are reputed to have the faculty are most reticent regarding it, and appear to dread it. At the close of the nineteenth century tow-charms to cure sprains and bruises were sold in a well-known Highland town by a woman who muttered a metrical spell over each magic knot she tied as the afflicted part was treated by her. She had numerous patients among all classes. Bone-setters still enjoy high repute in localities: not many years ago a public presentation was made to a Ross-shire bone-setter in recognition of his lifelong services to the community. His faculty was inherited from his forbears.

Numerous instances may be gleaned in the Highlands of the appearance of the spirits of the living and the dead. The appearance of the spirit of a living person is said to be a sure indication of the approaching death of that individual. It is never seen by a member of the family, but appears to intimate friends.

Sometimes it speaks and gives indication of the fate of some other mutual acquaintance.

DONALD MACKENZIE.

Scott, David and William Bell : These brothers, of whom David is by far the more important, certainly deserve a place in this volume, Born at Edinburgh in 1777, David lived a comparatively uneventful life, his lofty gifts being quite unrecognised by his contemporaries, and his death in 1849 being hastened in some degree by this persistent neglect. Nowadays, however, connoisseurs in Scotland are beginning to appreciate him, perceiving in his output technical merits far transcending those of Raeburn himself; while people who care for art dealing with the supernatural are coming to see, slowly but surely, that Scott’s Paracelsus and Vasco de Gama are in the forefront of work of this kind; and that his beautiful drawings for The Ancient Mariner render the very spirit of Coleridge, the arch-mystic, render it with a skill unsurpassed in any previous or subsequent illustrations to the poem.

William Bell Scott was also a native of Edinburgh, being born there in 1811, and his career was very different from David’s, for he won worldly success from the first, and ere his death in 1890 he had received many laurels. Etching some of his brother’s works, and painting a host of pictures, he was also a voluminous writer; and his Autobiography contains some really valuable comments on the mystic symbolism permeating the painting of the middle-ages, and embodies also a shrewd and interesting account of Rossetti’s essays in table-turning and kindred practices. Moreover, William Bell’s poems are almost all of a metaphysical order; and though it is extravagant to call him "the Scottish Blake," as many people have done, his mystical verse undoubtedly reflects a certain " meditative beauty," as Fiona Macleod once wrote on the subject.

Scott or Scot, Michael : Scottish Astrologer and Magician (1175-1234). Though Michael Scott’s life is wrapped in obscurity his name is rather a familiar one, various causes having brought this about. In the first place, Dante refer to him in his Inferno, speaking of him as one singularly skilled in magical arts; while he is also mentioned by Boccaccio, who hails him as among the greatest masters of necromancy. Moreover, Coleridge projected a drama dealing with Michael, whom he asserted was a much more interesting personality than Faustus; and then there is a novel about him by Allan Cunningham, while, above all, he figures in The’ Lay of the Last Minstrel. And Sir Walter Scott, no very careful antiquarian, identifies the astrologer with one Sir Michael Scott of Balwearie, who, along with Sir David Wemyss of Wemyss, went to bring the Maid of Norway to Scotland in 1290; but this identification is manifestly wrong, for in a poem by Vincent de Beauvais published so early as 1235, Michael is mentioned as lately deceased. Of course this does not vitiate the idea that he emanated from the family of Balwearie, whose estates were situate near Kirkcaldy, in Fife; and it is almost certain indeed, that he was a man of gentle birth, it being recorded that he studied at Oxford university, where it is improbable he would have gone had his parents not been in comparatively affluent circumstances. When his Oxonian days were over Michael proceeded to the Sorbonne at Paris, where he acquired the title of mathematicus; and from the French capital he wandered on to Bologna, in those days famous as a seat of learning. He did not tarry here for long, however, but went to Palermo; while subsequently he settled for a while at Toledo, for he was anxious to study Arabic, and that town afforded good facilities therefor. He appears to have been successful with these studies, mastering the intricacies of the Arabic tongue thoroughly; yet there was nothing to induce him to continue in Spain, and accordingly he went to Sicily, where he became attached to the court of Ferdinand II., probably in the capacity of state-astrologer. At least, he is so designated in an early manuscript copy, now in the Bodleian Library, of his book on astronomy; yet it is clear that, at some time or other, Michael had espoused holy orders. For in 1223 the Pope, Honorius III., wrote to the Archbishop of Canterbury, urging him to procure an English benefice for Scott, while it appears that in the following year the Archbishopric of Cashel in Ireland was offered to him, and that he declined this on account of his total ignorance of the Erse language. This refusal to take a post for which he was unsuited reflects great credit on him, and it is patent that he was highly esteemed at the Vatican, for in 1227 Gregory IX., successor of Honorius, made further overtures to the English primate on behalf of Michael; and, whether these proved fruitful or not, according to Roger Bacon the necromancer came to England in 1230, bringing with him the works of Aristotle-at that date virtually unknown in this country-and contriving to give them a certain popularity amongst scholars.

It is reasonable to suppose that Michael, having come to England, also paid a visit to his native Scotland. And, though no documentary evidence is forthcoming to support this theory, local tradition at Melrose contends that the astrologer came to that town in his old age, and that he died there and was buried somewhere in the neighbourhood. Various other places in the Borders likewise claim this distinction, and Sir Walter Scott tells that, throughout the south of Scotland, "any great work of great labour or antiquity is ascribed either to Auld Michael, Sir William Wallace, or the Devil." One popular story about the necromancer maintains that he used to ride through the air on a demon horse, and another that he was wont to sail the seas on the back of some fabulous animal; while yet a further legend recounts that he went as Scottish envoy to the king of France, and that the first stamp of his black steed’s horse rang the bells of Notre Dame, whereupon his most Christian majesty granted the messenger all he desired.

As regards the writings of Michael, he is credited with a translation of Aristotle’s De Animalibus, but the ascription is not very well founded. However, it is almost certain that he wrote Quaesto Curiosa de Natura Solis et Lunae, which is included in the Theatrum Chemicum; while he was undoubtedly author of Mensa Philosophica, published at Frankfort in 1602 ; and also of Liber Physiognomiae Magistri Michaelis Scot, a book which was reprinted nearly twenty times, and was translated into various languages. Reference has already been made to a manuscript in the Bodleian Library attributed to Michael, and it behoves to add here that at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, at the Vatican and at the Sorbonne, there are further documents purporting to have been penned by the astrologer himself, to have been written at his dictation, or to have been copied out by scribes soon after the actual author’s decease.

Screech Owl : The cry of the screech owl at midnight is said to portend evil.

Sea Phantoms and Superstitions : Sailors as a class are invariably superstitious, while their predilection herein is shared in general by fishermen, and others who dwell by the marge of the great deep. The old songs of the outer Hebrides are full of wizardry, and this figures too in many a chanty composed by bygone seamen; while Captain Marryat, a writer who understood sailors as few others have done, testified repeatedly to their firm belief in the supernatural. Nor is he the only author who has dealt with this, for, not to mention less notable names, Coleridge touched on the matter in his poem of the Ancient Mariner; while turning from literature to painting, that exquisite Scottish master David Scott, in a memorable canvas now domiciled in the seaport town of Leith, shows Vasco de Gama and his henchmen gazing thunderstruck at an apparition rising from the waves. And it is scarcely surprising, after all, that credulity, in this relation should be a salient characteristic of sailors, the mere fact that they live in constant danger of sudden death constituting a good explanation and apology. In the duchy of Cornwall, so rich in romantic associations of all Sorts, quite a number of stories concerning marine spectres have been handed down from generation to generation, and are current and even popular to this day. One of these stories ?elates how, on a winter’s evening when a fierce gale was raging round the Cornish headlands, a fisherman chanced to see a ship in distress; and away the man hastened at once, calling on some of his fellows to come and aid him in the work of rescuing the perishing. In a few minutes a rowing boat had been manned, for Cornish fisherfolk are accustomed to go afloat in all weathers and to face the peril of drowning while very soon the gallant rescuers were almost within earshot of the distressed vessel, and could see her name clearly on the stern: They thought to jump on board, their idea being that, were the ship blest with a skilful pilot acquainted with the dangers of the coast, she might be steered safely into Falmouth harbour; but, just as one of the fishermen stood up in the prow of the boat with intent to throw a rope, the great vessel looming before him disappeared from sight altogether. She could not have sunk, for had that been her fate, some relics thereof must certainly have survived upon the seething foam and billows; and, vowing that the devil had conjured up a phantom to induce them to put out to sea, the rowers put their boat about speedily, and pulled for home with might and main. One and all, they were more afraid of the evil one’s machinations than of the more genuine perils they were encountering; and an analogous, but more reasonable form of credulity on the part of the Cornish fisherfolk is instanced by another of their traditions, one associated with the village of Sennen Cove. This place is situate at the head of a bay flanked by two mighty capes. Sometimes a band of misty vapour stretches right across the bay, obscuring the villagers’ outlook towards the sea beyond and whenever this occurs the fisherfolk regard it with awe, believing that it warns them not to put out in their boats. At one time, so it is recorded in the neighbourhood, Sennen Cove numbered among its inhabitants a group of doughty spirits who, wont to laugh at this superstition, were minded to demonstrate its absurdity; and accordingly, when the warning band of vapour next made its appearance, they sailed off singing gaily. But their boat never returned, their fate remained a mystery; and in fine they contrived to strengthen rather than weaken the belief they had ridiculed.

Scotland also has her stories of phantom barques. Near Ballachulish, on the west coast of Argyllshire, there is a rocky island on which the Macdonalds of Glencoe were wont to bury their honoured and laurelled dead; and the lore of the district tells that once, some hundreds of years ago, a skiff bearing a beloved chieftain’s corpse to this place of interment foundered ere reaching its destination. A horrible thing was this thought the Macdonalds, a horrible thing that the father of the clan should be swept from sea to sea, and be denied a resting-place beside his ancestors while anon it appeared as though the affair had verily been contrived by supernatural agency, for invariably, just before any misfortune overtook the tribe of Macdonald, the wrecked skiff was seen drifting about the sea, its dead oarsman clinging to it, and a coffin floating in its wake. Only too often this weird vision appeared, and it is said that, on the eve of the massacre of Glencoe, the spectre boat bore a crew of ghostly female mourners who sang a loud coronach, their wails reverberating far among the neighbouring mountains.

Another Highland story contends that a large ship, wrecked off the coast of Ross at the time of the first transportation of Celts to Canada, still rises occasionally from the waves which erstwhile claimed it as their prey, and, after sailing gallantly for a few minutes, suddenly lurches and sinks beneath the ocean; while dwellers by the shores of the Solway tell how a certain craft, which went down there while conveying a gay bridal party towards Stranraer, is frequently seen driving at full speed before the gale, the bride and bridegroom clinging to the rigging as though in terror of immediate death by drowning. Nor is this the only phantom wherein the Solway rejoices, for that proverbially treacherous firth, round which Sir Walter Scott has cast so potent a halo of romance in Redgauntlet, witnessed once upon a time the foundering of two Scandinavian pirate-vessels, and these are said to rise periodically from the water, the fierce and murderous crew of each calling the while for the mercy which they themselves never accorded their victims.

Bidding adieu to British legends, and looking further afield, we find that religion plays a prominent part in stories of spectre ships. At Boulogne, for example, there is a tradition to the effect that on one occasion, at a remote date in the middle ages, the townspeople were desirous of building a church, for at this time they were without any public place of worship ; but, anxious as they were to choose a site which the Almighty would approve, they found it dim cult to come to a decision on this head, everyone suggesting a different place. Finally, in despair, a body of them assembled on the beach, intending to offer up prayer for a solution to the problem; and while they were engaged thus they happened to look out to sea, when lo a vessel was see,’ sailing towards them, the sacred Virgin herself Oh board. Standing erect in the bows, she pointed with her hand in a certain direction; and the devout people realised at once that their petition had been answered whereupon the mysterious phantom vanished as quickly as it had come. Another French spectre-ship. however, was wont to remain in sight for longer periods, while its appearance invariably struck terror in to the hearts of all who beheld it. Small wonder too, the vessel being manned by a crew of demons and great’ dogs-the perjured souls of men who had been guilty of fearful crimes; yet the pious knew that in reality they had little to fear, the priests having told them that the repetition of a paternoster was adamantine proof against molestations from the hideous vision. Somewhat akin to this story is one associated with Venice, where, one stormy evening about the middle of the fourteenth century, a fisherman was requested to row three saints to a neighbouring village on the Adriatic; and, after bending to his oars for a while, he suddenly stopped and gazed as though petrified, a galley filled with swarthy Saracens having risen beside his boat. The oarsman vowed he would put back with all speed, but his godly passengers bade him be of good cheer, and while they sang an ave maria the ominous galley was submerged by the hungry waves. So the fisherman rowed forward and reached his haven, the three saints rewarded him with a present of a gold ring, and that is why that article figures in the old coat-of-arms of the Venetian Republic.

Go where we will, to countries fringed or intersected by the sea, we find stories like this, or something like it. In Japan there ate tales of phantom junks, and the Chinaman still paints a pair of great eyes on the prow of his craft, thinking that these will detect any monsters which chance to be prowling afloat; while even on the coasts of America, usually considered so very prosaic a land, traditions anent spectral vessels prevail to this day. Kindred stories are known in the Ionian Islands, and the folk-lore of Shetland embodies a wealth of matter of this sort; while round about the serried coast of Denmark, and the windswept fiords of Norway, many a phantom barque is supposed to hover; and indeed it was on the North Sea that the most famous of all supernatural ships was wont to sail, the ship known to us as "The Flying Dutchman," and to the Germans as ‘ Der Fliegende Hollander." A sailor, so goes the romance, had loved a maiden not wisely but too well, and having wronged her he grew weary of the liaison, left his sweetheart to languish, and put forth on the high seas where he committed many flagrant acts of piracy. But he was not to go unrequited, and the fates condemned him to sail wearily and everlastingly from shore to shore, this punishment to be endured till be should contrive to win the staunch affection of a virtuous woman and prove faithful to her. So the wayfarer’s barque was driven hither and thither, the guilty man longed to tread solid ground once more; but whenever he dared to put in to port, and commenced paying addresses to one whom he thought might be able to save him, the devil soon placed him on board ship again, and his interminable voyage commenced afresh. Century after century went past in this fashion, the ill-starred barque gradually becoming familiar to all who sailed upon the grey North Sea, or dwelt by its shores; and the legend was not destined to dwindle away before the onslaughts of incoming civilisation, for betimes a great artist arose to give a new and more genuine immortality to the story. Yes! Richard Wagner evolved from it a mighty drama; and sometimes, as we listen to his music-charged so abundantly with the weirdness, mystery and glamour of the surging ocean-we can verily picture the Dutchman’s craft driving before a fearsome gale, and see the criminal sitting terror-struck and hopeless at his useless helm.

Seal of Solomon : (See Magic.)

Séance : A sitting held for the purpose of communicating with the dead, an essential requirement being that at least one member of the company be possessed of mediumistic powers. (See Medium.) Antiquity furnishes many examples of what may be called " seances - Saul’s consultation with the Witch of Endor-but the term is generally used only in connection with modern spiritualism. When, in 1848, the Fox family at Hydesville called in their neighbours to listen to the mysterious sounds which have since become famous as the " Rochester Rappings," the gathering was too informal to be called a seance, though all the necessary elements were present; but within the next two or three years the contagion spread throughout a large part of the eastern states, many " circles" (q.v.) were formed, and the phenomena which was in the first instance apparently spontaneous was now deliberately induced. In the early stages of the movement these seance’s were conducted by private mediums, who took no fee for their performances, but later professional mediums arose whose seance’s were open to the public on the payment of a fee. Both public and private seance’s continued, and still continue, to be an indispensable feature of spiritualism.

Besides the presence of a medium there ate other conditions which must be observed if the seance’ is to be productive of phenomena. The chief of these is, perhaps, the darkness or semi-darkness of the seance-room, though this is by no means an invariable condition. The reason given by spiritualists is that light interferes with the manifestations of the spirits, though a less charitable construction is sometimes put upon the insistent demand for darkness. Sometimes the actual seance’ is preceded by playing or singing, a proceeding which one of Home’s sitters states "always gave us a good seance." That this playing and singing was not without its purpose we may readily infer, for a state of expectancy and increased receptivity might easily be induced thereby, and it may be recalled, en passant, that D’Eslon and other disciples of Mesmer enjoined their patients to sing, or had some instrument played while the patients were seated around the baquet, or magnetic tub. To return to the seance ; the sitters take their places around a table and join hands, thus forming a "chain." The Baron de Guldenstubbe, in giving directions for the forming of a circle and the conducting of a seance’, says: " In order to form a chain, the twelve persons each place their right hand on the table and their left hand on that of their neighbour, thus making a circle round the table. Observe that the medium or mediums, if there be more than one, are entirely isolated from those who form the chain." Dr. Lapponi, in his Hypnotism and Spiritism, says: " He (the medium) then invites some of his assistants to place their hands on the table in the following manner. The two thumbs of each person are to be touching each other, and each little finger is to be in communication with the little fingers of the persons on either side. He himself completes the chain with his two hands. The hands of all together rest on the edge of the table." Sometimes, again, as in the seances for table-turning and talking, the chain is formed simply by all the operators placing their finger-tips on the table. When the spirits have announced their presence by raps, tilting of the table, and so on, the chain may or may not be broken, but so long as it remains unbroken the sitters are entirely at the mercy of the spirits.

The phenomena which are thereafter witnessed are so diverse and varied that scarcely any account of a seance’ precisely matches another in detail, yet undoubtedly they all belong to certain well-defined classes. In the sphere of "physical" phenomena we have the movements of furniture, beginning with the table round which the members of the circle are seated, and affecting, perhaps, all the furniture in the room. These antics of inanimate objects in the seance-room are often practically identical with the spontaneous outbreaks of the poltergeist. Then there are the levitations (q.v.) both of the human body and of furniture and inanimate things. We are told of heavy wardrobes being raised to the ceiling without visible agency, and of several mediums floating upwards in like manner, Elongation (q.v.) is another phenomenon of the séance-room, an increase or apparent increase, of from a few inches to a foot taking place in the medium’s height. Locked doors and cupboards are opened without keys, and with-out any trace of violence. Apports (q.v.) of small objects-flowers, fruit, jewels, anything, in fact-are brought from a distance through closed doors and barred windows, or abstracted in mysterious fashion from sealed boxes. Inanimate things show in their actions an almost human intelligence. Heavy objects become light enough to be raised by the touch of a finger, light articles become so weighty that the combined force of all present will not suffice to lift them. The medium can hold live coals in his hand, or in his handkerchief, without either being burned. Instruments are played upon when no visible hand is near them, or music is produced from the empty air without any instruments at all. Luminous hands and faces float in the air, sometimes recognised by the sitters as belonging to deceased friends and relatives, and touchings and caresses are felt. A breeze suddenly springs up in the seance-room though the doors and windows are still closed-and curtains and the clothes of the sitters are inflated. If the stance’ is an especially successful one, complete spirit forms may be materialised. If the latter manifestation is to be asked for, a small cabinet is usually provided, into which the medium retires. Soon afterwards the filmy spirit form or forms are seen to issue from the cabinet, and in them the Sitters frequently behold lost friends or relatives. The spirit forms will move about the room, allow themselves to be touched, and will, on occasion, even converse with their friends in the flesh, and give away locks of their hair and fragments of their clothing. Again, the materialisation may take place in the open, a small luminous cloud being first perceived, which gradually developes into a complete human figure; or, as has been known to happen, the spirit may seem to issue from the medium’s side, and remain united to him by a gossamer filament. In most cases the head and chin are shrouded in white draperies, only a portion of the face being visible. (See Materialisation.)

The automatic or "psychical" phenomena are of a different nature. Certain manifestations, such as table-tiltings (q.v.), rapping (q.v.), and slate-writing (q.v.), where the communication does not apparently come through the medium’s organism, partake of the character of both

physical" and" psychical" phenomena. Purely" psychical" manifestations are the automatic writing and speaking of the medium. Sometimes the latter falls spontaneously into a trance, and delivers spirit messages while in that state, or the medium may remain to all appearances in a normal condition. Not only writings and utterances, but drawings and musical compositions may be produced automatically, and though automatism of this sort is by no means confined to the seance-room it still plays a large part therein, and is especially in favour with the more serious-minded spiritualists, to whom communications from the spirit-world are of greater importance than the tricks of household furniture.

A representative account of one of the stances of D. D. Home (q.v.), is given by H. D. Jencken in Human Nature, February, 1867, as follows:-

"Mr. Home had passed into the trance still so often witnessed, rising from his seat, he laid hold of an armchair, which he held at arms’ length, and was then lifted about three feet clear of the ground ; travelling thus suspended in space, he placed the chair next Lord Adare, and made a circuit round those in the room, being lowered and raised as he passed each of us. One of those present measured the elevation, and passed his leg and arm under Mr. Home’s feet. The elevation lasted from four to five minutes. On resuming his seat, Mr. Home addressed Captain Wynne, communicating news to him of which the departed alone could have been cognisant.

"The spirit form that had been seen reclining on the sofa, now stepped up to Mr. Home and mesmerised him; a hand was then seen luminously visible over his head, about 18 inches in a vertical line from his head. The trance state of Mr. Home now assumed a different character; gently rising he spoke a few words to those present, and then opening the door proceeded into the corridor; a voice then said :-’ He will go out of this window and come in at that window.’ The only one who heard the voice was the Master of Lindsay, and a cold shudder seized upon him as he contemplated the possibility of this occurring, a feat which the great height of the third floor windows in Ashley Place rendered more than ordinarily perilous. The others present, however, having closely questioned him as to what he had heard, he at first replied, ‘ I dare not tell you,’ when, to the amazement of all, a voice said, ‘You must tell ; tell directly.’ The Master then said, ‘ Yes; yes, terrible to say, he will go out at that window and come in at this; do not be frightened, be quiet.’ Mr. Home now re-entered the room, and opening the drawing-room window, was pushed out demi-horizontally into space, and carried from one window of the drawing-room to the farthermost window of the adjoining room. This feat being performed at a height of about sixty feet from the ground, naturally caused a shudder in all present. The body of Mr. Home, when it appeared at the window of the adjoining room, was shunted into the room feet foremost-the window being only 18 inches open. As soon as he had recovered his footing he laughed and said, ‘ I wonder what a policeman would have said had he seen me go round and round like a teetotum!’ The scene was, however, too terrible-too strange, to elicit a smile: cold beads of perspiration stood on every brow, while a feeling pervaded all as if some great danger had passed; the nerves of those present had been kept in a state of tension that refused to respond to a joke. A change now passed over Mr. Home, one often observable during the trance states, indicative, no doubt, of some other power operating on his system. Lord Adare had in the meantime stepped up to the open window in the adjoining room to close it-the cold air, as it came pouring in, chilling the room; when, to his surprise, he only found the window 8 to 24 inches open! This puzzled him, for how could Mr. Home have passed outside through a window only 18 to 24 inches open. Mr. Home, however soon set his doubts at rest; stepping up to Lord Adare he said, ‘ No, no; I did not close the window; I passed thus into the air outside.’ An invisible power then supported Mr. Home all but horizontally in space, and thrust his body into space through the open window, head-foremost, bringing him back again feet foremost into the room, shunted not unlike a shutter into a basement below. The circle round the table having re-formed, a cold current of air passed over those present, like the rushing of winds. This repeated itself several times. The cold blast of air, or electric fluid, or call it what you may, was accompanied by a loud whistle like a gust of wind on the mountain top, or through the leaves of the forest in late autumn; the sound was deep, sonorous, and powerful in the extreme, and a shudder kept passing over those present, who all heard and felt it. This rushing sound lasted quite ten minutes, in broken intervals of one or two minutes, All present were much surprised and the interest became intensified by the unknown tongues in which Mr. Home now conversed. Passing from one language to another in rapid succession, he spoke for ten minutes in unknown languages.

"A spirit form now became distinctly visible; it stood next to the Master of Lindsay, clad, as seen on former occasions, in a long robe with a girdle, the feet scarcely touching the ground, the outline of the face only clear, and the tones of the voice, though sufficiently distinct to be understood, whispered rather than spoken. Other voices were now heard, and large globes of phosphorescent lights passed slowly through the room."

The following extract is taken from an account of a stance held by Professor Lombroso with the famous Italian medium, Eusapia Paladino.

"After a rather long wait the table began to move, slowly at first,-a matter explained by the scepticism, not to say the positively hostile spirit, of those who were this night in a stance circle for the first time. Then little by little, the movements increased in intensity. M. Lombroso proved the levitation of the table, and estimated at twelve or fifteen pounds the resistance to the pressure which he had to make with his hands in order to overcome that levitation.

"This phenomenon of a heavy body sustained in the air, off its centre of gravity and resisting a pressure of twelve or fifteen pounds, very much surprised and astonished the learned gentleman, who attributed it to the action of an unknown magnetic force.

"At my request, taps and scratchings were heard in the table. This was a new cause for astonishment, and led the gentlemen to themselves call for the putting out of the candles in order to ascertain whether the intensity of the noises would be increased, as had been stated, All remained seated and in contact.

"In a dim light which did not hinder the most careful surveillance, violent blows were first heard at the middle point of the table. Then a bell placed upon a round table, at a distance of a yard to the left of the medium (in such a way that she was placed behind and to the right of M. Lombroso), rose into the air, and went tinkling over the heads of the company, describing a circle around our table where it finally came to rest."

At this seance members of the company also felt themselves pinched and their clothes plucked, and experienced the touchings of invisible hands on their faces and fingers. The accuracy of the account-written by M. Ciolfi-was testified to by Professor Lombroso himself M. J.

Second Sight : The faculty of foreseeing future events which is supposed to belong to certain individuals in the Scottish Highlands. The belief in second sight dates back to a very early period in the history of these regions, and is still very far from being extinct, even in the more accessible parts. Saving the name, there is but little in second sight that is peculiar to the Celts of Scotland, for it is allied to the clairvoyance, prophetic vision, soothsaying, and so on, which have existed from time immemorial in practically every part of the world. Yet the second sight has certain distinctive features of its own. It may, for instance, be either congenital or acquired. In the former case it generally falls to the seventh son of a seventh son, by reason, probably, of the potency of the mystic number seven. Sometimes a Highlander may find himself suddenly endowed with the mysterious faculty. A person gifted with second sight is said to be" fey." Generally there is no apparent departure from the normal consciousness during the vision, though sometimes a seer may complain of a feeling of disquiet or uneasiness. A vision may be communicated from one person to another, usually by contact, but the secondary vision is dimmer than that of the original seer. A frequent vision is that of a funeral, indicating that a death will shortly take place in the community. This is an instance of the second sight taking a symbolical turn, and perhaps this is its usual form. Occasionally the apparition of the doomed man will be seen-his wraith, or double-while he himself is far distant. Another form frequently taken by the second sight is that of "seeing lights." The lights, too, may indicate death, but they may likewise predict lesser happenings, or have no significance at all. Thus a light is seen by two persons to hover above the "Big House," then to travel swiftly in the direction of the gamekeeper’s cottage, where it remains stationary for a while. On the morrow the gamekeeper is dead. Again a farmer returning from the market is preceded the whole of the way by a ball of fire, rolling along the road ahead of him. This time, however, the light portends no alarming occurrence, and the excitement of the glen quickly subsides. The lower animals also are said to possess second sight, which is especially frequent among dogs and horses. Two men were travelling from Easdale to Oban on a stormy night. In traversing a short cut through a wood one of them died from fatigue and exposure. That night more than one horse had to be carefully led past the spot by his driver, who as yet knew nothing of the tragedy. Indeed most Highlanders believe that the faculty is common to all the lower animals, else why should they whine and bristle when there is nothing visible to human eyes, nothing audible to human ears? Notwithstanding that the march of civilisation has caused the Highlander partly to conceal his occult beliefs, at least from the unbelieving Sassenach, the writer can vouch for the fact that in certain districts second sight is almost a commonplace, believed in even by those who avow that they are not in the least " superstitious." M. J.

Secret Commonwealth of Elves : (See Scotland.)

Secret Fire : Described by Philostratus as issuing from a basin in a well on the hill Athanor. A blue vapour rises from the well, changing into all the colours of the rainbow. The bottom is strewn with red arsenic on it is the basin full of fire, and from it rises flame without smell or smoke. Two stone reservoirs are beside it, one containing rain, the other wind.

Secret of Secrets : (See Kabala.)

Secret Tradition : It has long been an article of faith with students of occultism that the secret tenets of the various sciences embraced within it have been preserved to modern times by a series of adepts, who have handed them down from generation to generation in their entirety. There is no reason to doubt this belief, but that the adepts in question existed in one unbroken line, and that they all professed similar principles is somewhat improbable. But one thing is fairly certain, and that is, that proficiency in any one of the occult sciences requires tuition from a master of that branch. All serious writers on the subject are at one as regards this. It is likely that in neolithic times societies existed among our barbarian ancestors, similar in character to the Midiwiwin of the North-American Indians, the snake-dancers of the Hopi of New Mexico, or the numerous secret societies of aboriginal Australians. This is inferred from the certainty that totemism existed amongst neolithic peoples. Hierophantic castes would naturally hand down the tradition of the secret things of the Society from one generation to another. The early mysteries of Egypt, Eleusis, Samothrace, Cabin, and so forth were merely the elaboration of such savage mysteries. There would appear to have been throughout the ages, what might be called, a fusion of occult beliefs : that when the hierophants of one system found themselves in juxtaposition, or even in conflict, with the professors of another, the systems in question appear to have received much from one another. It has been said that when the ancient mysteries are spoken about, it should be understood that one and the same series of sacred ceremonies is intended, one and the same initiatory processes and revelations, and that what is true of one applies with equal certainty to all the others. Thus Strabo records that the strange orgies in honour of the mystic birth of Jupiter resembled those of Bacchus, Ceres and Cybele; and the Orphic poems identified the orgies of Bacchus with those of Ceres, Rhea, Venus and Isis. Euripides also mentions that the rites of Cybele are celebrated in Asia Minor in an identical manner with the Grecians mysteries of Dionysius and the Cretan rites of the Cabiri. The Rev. Geo. Oliver in his History of Initiation affirms that the rites of the science which is now received under the appellation of Freemasonry were exercised in the antediluvian world, received by Noah after the Flood, practised by man at the building of Babel. conveniences for which were undoubtedly contained in that edifice, and at the dispersion spread with every settlement already deteriorated by the gradual innovations of the Cabiric priests, and moulded into a form, the great outlines of which are distinctly to be traced in the mysteries of every heathen nation, and exhibit shattered remains of the one true system, whence they were derived. This theory is of course totally mischievous, and although there may have been likeneses between the rites of certain societies, the idea that all sprang from one common source is absurd. One thing, however, is fairly certain: anthropology permits us to believe that the concepts of man, religious and mystical, are practically identical in whatever part of the world he may exist, and there is every possibility that the similarity between early mysteries results in this manner, and that it brought about a strong resemblance between the mystical systems of the older world. We have satisfactory evidence that the ancient mysteries were receptacles of a great deal of occult wisdom, symbolism, magical or semi-magical rite, and mystical practice in general; and we are pretty well assured that when these fell into desuetude among the more intellectual classes of the various countries in which they obtained, they were taken up and practised in secret by the lesser ranks of society, even the lowest ranks, who are in all ages the most conservative, and who clung faithfully to the ancient systems, refusing to partake in the rites of the religions which had ousted them. The same can be posited of magical practice. The principles of magic are universal, and there can be no reason to doubt that these were handed on throughout the long centuries by hereditary castes of priests, shamans, medicine-men, magicians, sorcerers, and witches. But the same evidence does not exist with regard to the higher magic, concerning which much more difficult questions arise. Was this handed on by means of secret societies, occult schools or universities, or from adept to adept?’ We speak not of the sorceries of empirics and savages, but of that spiritual magic which, taken in its best sense, shades into mysticism. The schools of Salamanca, the mystic colleges of Alexandria, could not impart the great truths of this science to their disciples : its nature is such that communication by lecture would be worse than useless. It is necessary to suppose then that it was imparted by one adept to another. But it is not likely that it arose at a very early period in the history of man. In his early psychological state he would not require it; and we see no reason for belief that its professors came into existence at an earlier period than some three or four thousand years B.C. The undisturbed nature of Egyptian and Babylonian civilisation leads to the belief that these countries brought forth a long series of adepts in the higher magic. We know that Alexandria fell heir to the works of these men, but it is unlikely that their teachings were publicly disseminated in her public schools. Individuals of high magical standing would however be in possession of the occult knowledge of ancient Egypt, and that they imparted this to the Greeks of Alexandria is certain, Later Hellenic and Byzantine magical theory is distinctly Egyptian in character, and we know that its esoteric forms were disseminated in Europe at a comparatively early date, and that they placed all other native systems in the background, where they were pursued in the shadow by the aboriginal witch and sorcerer. We have thus outlined the genealogy of the higher magic from early Egyptian times to the European medieval period. Regarding alchemy, the evidence from analogy is much more sure, and the same may be said as regards astrology. These are sciences in which it is peculiarly necessary to obtain the assistance of an adept if any excellence is to be gained in their practice ; and we know that the first originated in Egypt, and the second in ancient Babylon. We are not aware of the names of those early adepts who carried the sciences forward until the days of Alexandria, but subsequent to that period the identity of practically every alchemical and astrological practitioner of any note is fully known. In the history of no science is the sequence of its professors so clear as is the case in alchemy, and the same might almost be said as regards astrology, whose protagonists, if they have not been so famous, have at least been equally conscientious. We must pass over in our consideration of the manner in which occult science survived, the absurd legends which presume to state how such societies as the Freemasons existed from antediluvian times; and will content ourselves with stating that the probabilities are that in the case of mystical brotherhoods a long line of these existed from early times, the traditions of which were practically similar. Many persons would be members of several of these, and would import the conceptions of one society into the heart of another, as we know Rosicrucian ideas were imported into Masonry. (See Freemasonry.) We seem to see in the mystic societies of the middle ages reflections of the older Egyptian and classical mysteries, and there is nothing absurd in the theory that the spirit and in some instances even the letter of these descended to medieval and perhaps to present times. Such organisations die much harder than any credit is given them for doing. We know, for example, that Freemasonry was revolutionised at one part of its career, about the middle of the seventeenth century, by an influx of alchemists and astrologers, who crowded out the operative members, and who strengthened the mystical position of the brotherhood, and it is surely reasonable to suppose that on the fall or desuetude of the ancient mysteries, their disciples, looking eagerly for some method of saving their cults from entire extinction, would join the ranks of some similar society, or would keep alive the flame in secret ; but the fact remains that the occult idea was undoubtedly preserved through the ages, that it was the same in essence amongst the believers in all religions and all mysteries, and that to a great extent its trend was in the one direction, so that the fusion of the older mystical societies and their re-birth as a new brotherhood is by no means an unlikely hypothesis. In the article on the "Templars" for example, we have tried to show the possibility of that brotherhood having received its tenets from the East, where it sojourned for such a protracted period. It seems very likely from what we learn of its rites that they were oriental in origin, and we know that the occult systems of Europe owed much to the Templars, who, probably, after the fall of their own Order secretly formed others or joined existing societies. Masons have a hypothesis that through older origins they inherited from the Dionysian artificers, the artizans of Byzantium, and the building brotherhoods of Western Europe. To state this dogmatically as a fact would not be to gain so much credence for their theory as is due to that concerning the dissemination of occult lore by the Templars ; but it is much more feasible in every way than the absurd legend concerning the rise of Freemasonry at the time of the building of the Temple. Secret societies of any description possess a strong attraction for a certain class of mind, or else a merely operative handicraft society, such as was medieval Masonry, would not have been utilised so largely by the mystics of that time. One of the chief reasons that we know so little concerning these brotherhoods in medieval times is that the charge of dabbling in the occult arts was a serious one in the eyes of the law and the church, therefore they found it necessary to carry on their practices in secret. But after the Reformation, a modern spirit took possession of Europe, and the protagonists of the occult sciences came forth from their caverns and practised in the open light of day. In England, for example, numerous persons avowed themselves alchemists; in Germany the Rosicrucians sent out a manifesto; in Scotland, Seton, a great master of the hermetic art, arose never had occultism possessed such a heyday. But it was nearly a century later until further secret societies were formed, such as the Academy of the Ancients and of the Mysteries in 1767; the Knights of the True Light founded in Austria about 1780; the Knights and Brethren of Asia, which appeared in Germany in the same year; the Order of Jerusalem which originated in America in 1791 ; the Society of the Universal Aurora established at Paris in 1783. Besides being masonic, these societies practised animal magnetism, astrology, Kabalism and even ceremonial magic. Others were political, such as the Illuminati, which came to such an inglorious end. But the individual tradition was kept up by an illustrious line of adepts, who were much more instrumental in keeping alive the flame of mysticism than even such societies as those we have mentioned. Mesmer, Swedenborg, St. Martin, Pasqually, Willermoz, all laboured to that end. We may regard all these as belonging to the school of Christian magicians, as apart from those who practised the rites of the grimoires or Jewish Kabalism. The line may be carried back through Lavater, Eckartshausen, and so on to the seventeenth century. These men were mystics besides being practitioners of theurgic magic, and they combined in themselves the knowledge of practically all the occult sciences.

With Mesmer began the revival of a science which cannot be altogether regarded as occult, when consideration is given to its modern developments, but which powerfully influenced the mystic life of his and many later days. The mesmerists of the first era are in direct line with the Martinists and the mystical magicians of the France of the late eighteenth century. Indeed in the persons of some English mystics, such as Greatrakes, mysticism and magnetism are one and the same thing. But upon Hypnotism, to give it its modern name, becoming numbered with the more practical sciences, persons of ‘a mystical cast of mind appear to have, to a great extent, deserted it. Hypnotism does not bear the same relation to mesmerism and magnetism as modern chemistry does to alchemy; but the persons who practise it nowadays are as dissimilar to the older professors of the science as is the modern practitioner of chemistry to the medieval alchemist. This is symptomatic of the occult sciences, that they despise that knowledge which is exact" in the common sense of the term. Their practitioners do not delight in labouring upon a science, the laws of which are already known, cut and dried. The student of occultism, as a rule, possesses all the attributes of an explorer. The occult sciences have from time to time deeply enriched the exact sciences, but these enrichments have been acts of intellectual generosity. It is in effect as if the occultist made a present of them to the scientist, but did not desire to be troubled with their future development in any way. Occultism of the higher sort therefore does not to-day possess any great interest in hypnotism, and modern mystics of standing scarcely recognise it as a part of the hidden mysteries. But there is no question that the early mesmerists formed a link between the adepts of eighteenth-century France and those of the present day. The occultists of to-day, however, are harking farther back: they recognise that their fore-runners of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries drew their inspiration from older origins, and they feel that these may have had cognisance of records and traditions that we wot not of, The recovery of these is perhaps for the moment the great question of modern magic. But apart from this, modern magic of the highest type strains towards mysticism, and partakes more than ever of its character. It disdains and ignores ceremonial, and exalts psychic experience. That is not to say that numerous bodies do not exist throughout the world for the celebration of magical rite ; but such fraternities have existed from time immemorial, and their protagonists cannot be placed on a higher footing than the hallucinated sorcerers of medieval times.

Secret Words : Certain words relating to the Eucharist were communicated by Christ to Joseph of Arimathea and were committed orally from keeper to keeper of the Graal. In Robert de Borron’s metrical romance, material power is added to their Spiritual efficacy and whoever could acquire and retain them, had a mysterious power over all around him, could not suffer by evil judgments, could not suffer deprivation of his own rights, need not fear the result of battle, provided his cause were good. The words were the secret of the Graal and were either incommunicable in writing or were written only in the Book of the Graal which, de Borron implies, was itself written by Joseph of Arimathea. These words are the chief mystery of the Lesser Holy Graal, as the prose version of de Borron’s poem is called. They were most probably a form of eucharistic consecration, and there is evidence that the Celtic church, following the example of the Eastern Church used them in addition to the usual consecration as practised in the Latin Church, which is merely a repetition of the New Testament account of the Lord’s Supper. The separate clause they are sup-posed to have formed is called Epiclesis and consisted of an invocation of the Holy Ghost.

Seik Kasso : Evil spirits inhabiting trees. (See Burma.)

Seiktha : An evil spirit. (See Burma.)

Semites, The : This article on the Semite’s applies to the more ancient divisions of the race, such as the Babylonians and Assyrians, and the Hebrews in Biblical times. For later Semitic occultism see Kabala, Arabs, etc. In ancient Babylon, and Chaldea, magic was of course a department of priestly activity, and in Mesopotamia we find a sect of priests, the Asipu, set apart for the practice of magic, which in their case probably consisted of hypnotism, the casting out of demons, the banning of troublesome spirits and so forth. The Baru again were augurs who consulted the oracles on the future by the inspection of the entrails of animals and the flight of birds, "the observation of oil in water, the secret of Anu, Bel, and Ea, the tablet of the gods, the sachet of leather of the oracles of the heavens and earth, the wand of cedar dear to the great gods." These priests of Baru and Asipu were clothed in vestments peculiar to their. rank, which they changed frequently during the ceremonies in which they took part. In the tablets we find kings making frequent enquiry through these priestly castes; and in a tablet of Sippar, we find treated the installation of a Baru to the Sun-temple, and also Sennachrib seeking through the Baro the causes of his father’s violent death. The Asipu again were exorcists, who removed tabus and laid ghosts. We find an Asipu’s functions set forth in the following   poem :-

" Incantation

(The man) of Ea am I,

(The man) of Damkina am I,

The messenger of Marduk am I,

My spell is the spell of Ea,

My incantation is the incantation of Marduk,

The circle of Ea is in my hand,

The tamarisk, the powerful weapon of Anu,

In my hand I hold,

The date-spathe. mighty in decision,

In my hand I hold."

"Incantation

He that stilleth all to rest, that pacifieth all,

By whose incantation everything is at peace,

He is the great Lord Ea,

Stilling all to rest, and pacifying all,

By whose incantation everything is at peace.

When I draw nigh unto the sick man

All shall be assuaged.

I am the magician born of Eridu,

Begotten in Eridu and Subari.

When I draw nigh unto the sick man

May Ea, King of the Deep, safeguard me I"

"Incantation

O Ea, King of the Deep, to see

I, the magician, am thy slave.

March thou on my right hand,

Assist (me) on my left

Add thy pure spell to mine,

Add thy pure voice to mine,

Vouchsafe (to me) pure words,

Make fortunate the utterances of my mouth,

Ordain that my decisions be happy,

Let me be blessed where’er I tread,

Let the man whom I (now) touch be blessed.

Before me may lucky thoughts be spoken.

After me may a lucky finger be pointed.

Oh that thou wert my guardian genius,

And my guardian spirit I

O God that blesseth, Marduk,

Let me be blessed, where’er my path may be I

Thy power shall god and man proclaim;

This man shall do thy service,

And I too, the magician thy slave."

"Unto the house on entering.

Samas is before me,

Sin (is) behind (me),

Nergal (is) at (my) right hand,

Ninib (is) at my left hand;

When I draw near unto the sick man,

When I lay my hand on the head of the sick man,

May a kindly Spirit, a kindly Guardian, stand at my side."

The third caste was the Zammaru, who sang or chanted certain ceremonials.

The lower ranks of sorcery were represented by the Kassapu and Kassaptu, the wizard and witch, who, as else-where, practised black magic, and who are stoutly combated by the priest-magician caste. We find in the code of Hammurabi a stringent law against the professors of black magic :-" If a man has charged a man with sorcery and has not justified himself, he who is charged with sorcery shall go to the river, he shall plunge into the river, and if the river overcome him, he who accused him shall take to himself his house. If the river makes that man to be innocent, and he be saved, he who accused him shall be put to death. He who plunged into the river shall take to him-self the house of him who accused him." This will recall the test for a witch, that if thrown into a pond, if she sinks she is innocent, but. if she floats she is a witch indeed. Another series of tablets deals with the black magician and the witch who are represented as roaming the streets, entering houses, and prowling through towns, stealing the love of men, and withering the beauty of women. The exorcist goes on to say that he has made an image of the witch, and he calls upon the fire-god to burn it, He seizes the mouth, tongue, eyes, feet, and other members of the witch, and piously prays that Sin may cast her into an abyss of water and fire, and that her face may grow yellow and green. He fears that the witch is directing a like sorcery against himself, that she sits making spells against him in the shade of the wall, fashioning images of him. But he sends against her the haltappan plant and sesame to undo her spells and force back the words into her mouth. He devoutly trusts that the images she has fashioned will assume her own character, and that her spells may recoil upon herself. Another tablet expresses the desire that the god of night may smite the witch in her magic, that the three watches of the night may loose her evil sorcery, that her mouth may be fat and her tongue salt, that the words of evil that she hath spoken may be poured out like tallow, and that the magic she is working be crumbled like salt. The tablets abound in magical matter and in them we have the actual wizardry in vogue at the time they were written, which runs at least from the seventh century B.C. onwards until the time when the cuneiform ceased to be used. Chaldean magic was renowned throughout the world, particularly, however, its astrological side. Isaiah says "Let now the astrologers, stargazers, monthly prognosticators, stand up and save thee from the things that shall come upon thee." In the book of Daniel, we find the magicians called Chaldeans, and up to the present time occultists have never tired of singing the praises of the Chaldean magi. Strabo and AElian allude to their knowledge of astrology, as did Diodorus Siculus, and it is supposed to have been a Chaldean magician OEthanes who introduced his science into Greece, which he entered with Xerxes.

The great library of Assurbanipal, king of Assyria, who died in 626 B.C., affords us first-hand knowledge of Assyrian magic. He gathered together numerous volumes from the cities of Babylonia, and storing them in his great library at Nineveh, had them copied and translated. In fact letters have been discovered from Assurbanipal to some of his officials, giving instructions for the copying of certain incantations. Many grimoires too come from Babylonia, written during the later empire,-the best known of which are the series entitled Maklu, burning; Utukki limnuti, evil spirits; Labartu, hag-demon; and Nis kati, raising of the hand. There are also available many ceremonial texts which throw considerable light on magical practice. The Maklu for example contains eight tablets of incantations .and spells against wizards and witches-the general idea running through it being to instruct the bewitched person how to manufacture figures of his enemies, and thus destroy them. The series dealing with the exorcism of evil spirits enumerates demons, goblins and ghosts, and consists of at least sixteen tablets. They are for the use of the exorcist in driving out devils from possessed people, and this is to be accomplished by invoking the aid of the gods, so that the demons may be laid under a divine tabu. The demon who possesses the unfortunate victim must be described in the most minute manner. The series dealing with the Labartu or hag-demon, who is a kind of female devil who delights in attacking children, gives directions for making a figure of the Labartu and the incantations to be repeated over it. The magician and philosopher appear to have worked together in Assyria, for we find medical men constantly using incantations to drive out demons, and incantations are often associated with prescriptions. Medical magic indeed appears to have been of much the same sort as we find amongst the American Indians and peoples in a like barbarian condition of existence.

We find the doctrine of the Incommunicable Name established among the early Semites, as among the Egyptians: the secret name of a god, which when discovered gave the speaker complete power over him by its mere utterance. The knowledge of the name, or description, of the person or demon the magician directs his charm against, is also essential to success. Drugs also, to which were originally ascribed the power vouchsafed by the gods for the welfare of mankind, were supposed to aid greatly in exorcism. In Assyrian sorcery, Ea and Marduk are the most powerful gods,-the latter being appealed to as intermediary between man and his father, Ea: indeed the legend of Marduk going to his father for advice was commonly repeated in incantations. When working against an individual too, it was necessary to have something belonging to him,-clippings of his hair, or nails if possible. The possessed person was usually washed, the principal of cleansing probably underlying this ceremony. An incantation called the Incantation of Eridu was often prescribed. and this must relate to some such cleansing, for Eridu is the Home of Ea, the Sea-god. A formula for exorcising or washing away a demon, Rabesu states that the patient is to be sprinkled with clean water twice seven times. Of all water none was so sacred as the Euphrates, and water from it was frequently used for charms and exorcisms. Fumigation with a censor was also employed by the Assyrians for exorcism, but the possessed person was often guarded from the attack of fiends by placing him in the middle of an enchanted circle of flour, through which it was thought no spirit could break. Wearing the glands from the mouth of a fish was also a charm against possession. In making a magic circle, the sorcerer usually formed seven little winged figures to set before the god Nergal, with a long spell, which states that he has completed the usurtu or magic circle with a sprinkling of lime. The wizard further prays that the incantation may be performed for his patient by the god. This would seem to be a prototype of the circle in use amongst magicians of medieval times. Says Campbell Thompson in his Semitic Magic

" Armed with all these things-the word of power, the acquisition of some part of the enemy, the use of the magic circle and holy water, and the knowledge of the magical properties of substances-the ancient warlock was well fitted for his trade. He was then capable of defying hostile demons or summoning friendly spirits, of driving out disease or casting spells, of making amulets to guard the credulous who came to him. Furthermore, he had a certain stock-in-trade of tricks which were a steady source of revenus. Lovesick youths and maidens always hoped for some result from his philtres or love-charms ; at the demand of jealousy, he was ever ready to put hatred between husband and wife; and for such as had not the pluck or skill even to use a dagger on a dark night, his little effigies, pierced with pins, would bring death to a rival. He was at once a physician and wonder-worker for such as would pay him fee."

"Among the more modern Semite’s magic is greatly in vogue in many forms, some of them quite familiar to Europeans: indeed we find in the Arabian Nights edited by Lane, a story of old women riding on a broom-stick. Among Mahommedans the wizard is thought to deserve death by reason of the fact that he is an unbeliever. Witches are fairly common in Arabic lore, and we usually find them figuring as sellers of potions and philtres. The European witch is usually supposed to be able to leave her dwelling at night by sprinkling some of the ashes of the hearth on the forehead of her husband, whereby he sleeps soundly till the morning. This is identical with French medieval practice. In Arab folk tales the moghrebi is the sorcerer who has converse with demons, and we find many such in the Old and New Testaments, as well as diviners and other practitioners of the occult arts, In the Sanhedrin, Rabbi Akiba defines an enchanter as one who calculates the times and hours, and other rabbis state that an enchanter is he who grows ill when his bread drops from his mouth, or if he drops the stick that supports him from his hand, or if his son calls after him, or a crow caws in his hearing, or a deer crosses his path, or he sees a serpent at his right hand, or a fox on his left." The Arabs believe that magic will not work while he that employs it is asleep. Besides it is possible to over-reach Satan himself, and many Arabic tales exist in which me n of wisdom and cunning have succeeded in accomplishing this once sent his son to an assembly of honourable people with a flint stone, and told him to have the flint stone woven, He came in and said, "My father sends his peace, and wishes to have this flint stone woven." A man with a goat-beard said, " Tell your father to have it spun, and then we will weave it," The son went back, and the Devil was very angry, and told his son never to put forth any suggestion when a goat-bearded man was present, " for he is more devilish than we." Curiously enough, Rabbi Joshua ben Hananiah makes a similar request in a contest against the wise men of Athens, who have required him to sew together the fragments of a broken millstone. He asks in reply for a few threads made of the fibre of tile stone. The good folk of Mosul, too, have ever prided themselves on a ready wit against the Devil. Time was, as my servant related to me, when Iblis came to Mosul and found a man planting onions. They fell to talking, and in their fellowship agreed to divide the produce of the garden. Then, on a day when the onions were ready, the partners went to their vegetable patch and the man said, " Master, wilt thou take as thy half that which is above ground or that which is below ? Now the Devil saw the good green shoots of the onions sprouting high, and so carried these off as his share, leaving the gardener chuckling over his bargain. But when wheat time came round, and the man was sowing his glebe on a day, the Devil looked over the ditch and complained that he had made nothing out of the compact. " This time, quoth he, we will divide differently, and thou shalt take the tops " ; and so it fell out. They visited the tilth together and when the corn was ripe, and the fellah reaped the field and took away the ears, leaving the Devil stubbing up the roots. Presently, after he had been digging for a month, he began to find out his error, and went to the man, who was cheerily threshing his portion. "This is a paltry quibble," said Iblis, " thou hast cozened me this twice."

Nay," said the former, " I gave thee thy desire; and furthermore thou didst not thresh out thine onion-tops, as I am doing this." So it was a sanguine Devil that sent away to beat the dry onion-stalks, but in vain; and he left Mosul sullenly, stalking away in dudgeon, and stopping once in a while to shake his hand against so crafty a town. "Cursed be he, ye tricksters ! who can outmatch devilry like yours

"In modern times in the East," says Mr. Thompson, from Morocco to Mesopotamia, books of magic are by no means rare, and manuscripts in Arabic, Hebrew, Gershuni, and Syriac can frequently be bought, all dealing with some form of magic or popular medicine. In Suakin ill the Soudan I was offered a printed book of astrology in Arabic illustrated by the most grotesque and bizarre woodcuts of the signs of the Zodiac, the blocks for which seem to have done duty in other places. Such books existed in manuscript in ancient days, as is vouched for by the story of the Sibylline books or the passage in Acts xix., 19; ‘ Not a few of them that practised curious arts brought their books together, and burned them in the sight of all.’

It is curious to find the charm for raising hatred practically the same among the Semites as it is amongst the peoples of Hungary and the Balkan States: that is through the agency of the egg of a black hen. We find too, many minor sorceries the same among the Semites as among European races. To be invisible was another attainment much sought after, and it was thought that if one wore a ring of copper and iron engraved with certain magic signs this result would be secured, or the heart of a black cat, dried and steeped in honey. The article " Solomon" can be referred to for several instances of potent enchantments.’ Sympathetic magic is often resorted to by the Arabic witch and wizard, just as it was amongst the ancient Hebrews and Assyrians.

The great repertory of Semitic occultism is of course the Kabala, to which the reader is referred for later Hebrew mystical doctrine.

Sendivogius, Michael : (See Seton.)

Sensitive : One who is in any degree susceptible to the influence of spiritual beings. A medium is occasionally, and, according to some authorities, more correctly, termed a sensitive.

Sephiroth : (See Kabala.)

Serpent’s Egg : (See Amulets.)

Sethos : A diviner, who was deprived of his sight by the Emperor Manuel because of his addiction to Magic. It is said that the Emperor Andronicus Comnenus obtained through him by hydromancy an answer to the question of who was to succeed him. The evil spirit gave the letters "S I" in reply; and on being asked when, said before the Feast of the exaltation of the Cross. This prediction was fulfilled, for before the date mentioned Isaac Angelus had thrown Andronicus to be torn in pieces by the mob. When the devil spells, he spells backwards, so that "S I" may quite fairly be taken to represent Isaac according to the laws of magic

Setna, Papyrus of : A papyrus of very ancient date, dealing with the personality of Prince Setna Kha-em-ust, son of Rameses II. of Egypt, and said to have been discovered by him under the head of a mummy in the Necropolis at Memphis. Says Wiedemann concerning it: The first text, which has been known to us since 1867, tells that this prince, being skilled and zealous in the practice of necromancy, was one day exhibiting his acquirements to the learned men of the court, when an old man told him of a magic book containing two spells written by the hand of Thoth himself, the god of wisdom. He who repeated the first spell bewitched thereby heaven and earth and the realm of night, the mountains and the depth of the sea; he knew the fowls of the air and every creeping thing; he saw the fishes, for a divine power brought them up out of the depth. He who read the second spell should have power to resume his earthly shape, even though he dwelt in the grave; to see the sun rising in the sky with all the gods and the moon in the form wherein she displays herself. Setna inquired where this book was to be found, and learned that it was lying in the tomb of Nefer-ka-Ptah, a son of King Mer-neb-Ptah (who is nowhere else named), and that any attempt to take away the book would certainly meet with obstinate resistance. These difficulties did not withhold Setna from the adventure. He entered the tomb of Nefer-ka-Ptah, where he found not only the dead man, but the Ka of his wife Ahuri and their son, though these latter had been buried in Koptos. But as in many other tales among many other peoples, success brought no blessing to the man who had disturbed the repose of the dead. Setna fell in love with the daughter of a priest at Memphis, who turned out to be a witch, and took advantage of his intimate connection with her to bring him to ignominy and wretchedness. At length the prince recognised and repented of the sacrilege he had committed in carrying off the book, and brought it back to Nefer-ka-Ptah. In the hope of atoning to some extent for his sin he journeyed to Koptos, and finding the graves of the wife and child of Nefer-ka-Ptah, he solemnly restored their mummies to the tomb of the father and husband, carefully closing the tomb he had so sacrilegiously disturbed. The second text, edited two years ago by Griffith from a London papyrus, is also genuinely Egyptian in its details. Three magic tales, interwoven one with another, are brought into connection with Saosiri, the supernaturally born son of Setna. In the first, Saosiri, who was greatly Setna’s superior in the arts of magic, led his father down into the underworld. They penetrated into the judgment-hall of Osiris, where the sights they saw convinced Setna that a glorious future awaited the poor man who should cleave to righteousness, while he who led an evil life on earth, though rich and powerful, must expect a terrible doom. Saosiri next succeeded in saving his father, and with him all Egypt, from great difficulty by reading without breaking the seal of a closed letter brought by an Ethiopian magician, whom he thus forced to recognise the superior power of Egypt. The last part of the text tells of a powerful magician once dwelling in Ethiopia who modelled in wax a litter with four bearers to whom he gave his life. He sent them to Egypt, and at his command they sought out Pharaoh in his palace, carried him off to Ethiopia, and, after giving him five hundred blows with a cudgel, conveyed him during the same night back to Memphis. Next morning the king displayed the weals on his back to his courtiers, one of whom. Horus by name, was sufficiently skilled in the use of amulets to ward off by their means an immediate repetition of the outrage. Horus then set forth to bring from Hermopolis, the all-powerful magic book of the god Thoth, and by its aid he succeeded in treating the Ethiopian king as the Ethiopian sorcerer had treated Pharaoh. The foreign magician then hastened to Egypt to engage in a contest with Horus in magic tricks. His skill was shown to be inferior, and in the end he and his mother received permission to return to Ethiopia under a solemn promise not to set foot on Egyptian territory for a space of fifteen hundred years.

Seton (or Sethon) Alexander : was one of the very few alchemists who succeeded in the great experiment of the transmutation of metals. He took his name from the village of Seton, which is stated to have been in the vicinity of Edinburgh and close to the sea-shore, so that one may reasonably conclude that the little fishing community of Port Seton is meant, although Camden in his Brittania states that that was the name of his house. In the year 1601, the crew of a Dutch vessel had the misfortune to be wrecked on the coast near his dwelling, and Seton personally rescued several of them, lodged them in his house, and treated them with great kindness, ultimately sending them back to Holland at his own expense. In the following year he visited Holland, and renewed his acquaintance with at least one of the ship-wrecked crew, James Haussen, the pilot, who lived at Arksun. Haussen, determined on repaying him for the hospitality he had received in Scotland, entertained him for some time in his house, and to him Seton disclosed the information that he was a master of the art of alchemy, and proved his words by performing several transmutations. Haussen, full of the matter, confided it to one Venderlinden, a physician of Enkhuysen, to whom he showed a piece of gold which he had himself seen transmuted from lead.

This Venderlinden’s grandson in turn, showed to the celebrated author, D. G. Morhoff, who wrote a letter concerning it to Langlet du Fresnoy, author of the Histoire de la Philosophie Hermetique.

Seton visited Amsterdam and Rotterdam, travelled by sea to Italy, and thence through Switzerland to Germany, accompanied by a professed sceptic of alchemy, one Wolf-gang Dienheim, whom he convinced of the error of his views at Basle before several of its principal inhabitants. This person has described Seton, and from the pen picture he gives of him we can discern a typical Scot of the seventeenth century. " Seton," he says, was short but stout, and high-coloured, with a pointed beard, but despite his corpulence, his expression was spiritual and exalted."He was," adds Dienheim, ‘ a native of Molier, in an island of the ocean." One wonders if Molier is the German’s corruption of Lothian.

Several experiments of importance were now demonstrated by Seton. In one of these the celebrated physician Zwinger himself brought the lead which was to be transmuted from his own house. A common crucible was obtained at a goldsmith’s, and ordinary sulphur was bought on the road to the house where the experiment was to take place. Seton handled none of these materials and took no part in the operation except to give to those who followed his directions a small packet of powder which transformed the lead into the purest gold of exactly the same weight. Zwinger appears to have been absolutely convinced of the genuine nature of the experiment, for he wrote an account of it to his friend Dr. Schobinger, which appears in Lonig’s Ephemerides. Shortly after this Seton left Basle, and changing his name went to Strasbourg, whence he travelled to Cologne, lodging with one Anton Bordemann, who was by way of being an alchemist. In this city he was sufficiently imprudent to blazon his knowledge far and wide,-on one occasion producing six ounces of gold through the application of one grain of his magical powder. The circumstance seems to have made an impression on at least one of the savants of the Cathedral City, for Theobald de Hoghelande in his Historiae Aliquot Transmutationis Mettalicae, which was published at Cologne in 1604, alludes to it.

Seton then went to Hamburg, whence he travelled south to Munich, where something more important than alchemy engaged his attention, for he eloped with the daughter of a citizen, whom he married. The young Elector of Saxony, Christian II. had heard of Seton 5 brilliant alchemical successes and invited him to his court, but Seton, loath to leave his young wife, sent his friend, William Hamilton, probably a brother-Scot, in his stead, with a supply of the transmuting agent. In the presence of the whole Court, Hamilton undertook and carried through an experiment with perfect success and the gold then manufactured resisted every known test. This naturally only whetted the Elector’s desire to see and converse with the magus, and a pressing invitation, which amounted to a command, was dispatched to Seton, who, thus rendered unable to refuse, betook himself to the electoral court. He was received there with every mark of honour, but it soon became evident to him that Christian II. had only invited him thither for the purpose of extracting from him the nature of his grand secret, but Seton, as an adept in the mysteries of alchemy, remained true to his high calling, and flatly refused to gratify the Elector’s greed. Promises of preferment and threats were alike indifferent to him, and in the end the Elector, in a passion, ordered him to be imprisoned in a tower, where he was guarded by forty soldiers. There he was subjected to every conceivable species of torture, but all to no purpose. The rack, the fire, and the scourge, failed to extort from him the methods by which he had achieved the grand arcanum. Quite as exhausted as his victim, the Elector at last for-bore, and left the unfortunate Scot in peace.

At this juncture a Moravian chemist, Michael Sendivogius, who happened to be in Dresden heard of Seton’s terrible experiences and possessed sufficient influence to obtain permission to visit him. Himself a searcher after the philosopher’s stone, he sympathised deeply with the adept, and proposed to him that he should attempt to effect his rescue. To this Seton agreed, and promised that if he were fortunate enough to escape, he would reward Sendivogius with his secret. The Moravian travelled back to Cracow, where he resided, sold up his property, and returned to Dresden, where he lodged near Seton’s place of confinement, entertaining the soldiers who guarded the alchemist, and judiciously bribing those who wore directly concerned in his imprisonment. At last be judged that the time was ripe to attempt Seton’s salvation. He feasted the guards in a manner so liberal that all of them were soon in a condition of tipsy carelessness. He then hastened to the tower in which Seton was imprisoned, but found him unable to walk, through the severity of his tortures. He therefore supported him to a carriage which stood waiting, and which they gained without being observed. They halted at Seton’s house to take up his wife, who had in her possession some of the all-important powder, and whipping up the horses, sped as swiftly as possible to Cracow, which they reached in safety. When quietly settled in that city, Sendivogius reminded Seton of his promise to assist him in his alchemical projects, but was met with a stern refusal, Seton explaining to him that it was impossible for him as an adept to reveal to his rescuer the terms of such an awful mystery. The health of the alchemist was, however, shattered by the dreadful torments through which he had passed, and which he survived only for about two years, presenting the remains of his magical precipitate to his preserver. The possession of this powder only made Sendivogius more eager than ever to penetrate the mysteries of the grand arcanum. He married Seton’s widow, perhaps with the idea that she was in possession of her late husband’s occult knowledge, but if so he was doomed to disappointment for she was absolutely ignorant of the matter. Seton had left behind him, however, a treatise entitled The New Light of Alchymy, which Sendivogius laid hands on and published as his own. In its pages he thought he saw a method of increasing the powder, but to his intense disappointment and disgust, he only succeeded in lessening it. With what remained, however, he posed as a successful projector of the grand mystery, and proceeded with much splendour from court to court in a sort of triumphal procession. In his own country of Moravia, he was imprisoned, but escaped. His powder, however, was rapidly diminishing, but he still continued his experiments. Borel in his work on French Antiquities mentions that he saw a crown piece which had been partially dipped into a mixture of the powder dissolved in spirits of wine, and that the part steeped in the elixir was of gold, was porous, and was not soldered or otherwise tampered with. The powder done, Sendivogius degenerated into a mere charlatan, pretending that he could manufacture gold, and receiving large sums on the strength of being able to do so. He survived until the year 1646 when he died at Parma at the age of 84. Seton’s New Light of Alchymy would appear, from an examination of it, to deny that the philosopher’s stone was to be achieved by the successful transmutation of metals. It says :-

"The extraction of the soul out of gold or silver, by. what vulgar way of alchymy soever, is but a mere fancy, On the contrary, he which, in a philosophical way, can without any fraud, and colourable deceit, make it that it shall really tinge the basest metal, whether with gain or without gain, with the colour of gold or silver (abiding all requisite tryals whatever), bath the gates of Nature opened to him for the enquiring into further and higher secrets, and with the blessing of God to obtain them."

Seven Stewards of Heaven : by whom God governs the world. They are known in works on Magic as the Olympian Spirits, and they govern the Olympian spheres, which are composed of one hundred and ninety-six regions. Their names in the Olympian language are :-Arathron, the celestial spirit of Saturn, whose day is Saturday; Bethor, the angel of Jupiter, whose day is Monday; Phaleg, the prince of Mars, whose day is Tuesday; Och, the master of the Sun, whose day is Sunday; Hagith, the sovereign of Venus, whose day is Friday; Ophiel, the Spirit of Mercury, who must be invoked on Wednesday; Phul, the administrator of affairs in the Moon, whose day is Monday. Each of these Seven Celestial Spirits may be invoked by magicians by the aid of ceremonies and preparations.

Sextus V., Pope : was one of the line of St. Peter accused of sorcery. De Thou says of him in his Histoire Universelle (tome XI.) " The Spaniards continued their vengeance against this Pontiff even after his death, and they forgot nothing in their anxiety to blacken his memory by the libels which they flung against him. Sextus, said they, who, by means of the magical art, was for a long time in confederacy with a demon, had made a compact with this enemy of humanity to give himself up to him, on condition he was made Pope, and allowed to reign six years. Sextus was raised to the chair of St. Peter, and during the five years he held sway in Rome he distinguished his pontificate by actions surpassing the feeble reach of the human intellect. Finally, at the end of this term, the Pope fell sick, and the devil arriving to keep him to his pact, Sextus inveighed strongly against his bad faith, reproaching him with the fact that the term they had agreed upon was not fulfilled, and that there still remained to him more than a twelve-month. But the devil reminded him that at the beginning of his pontificate he had condemned a man who, according to the laws, was too young by a year to suffer death, and that he had nevertheless caused him to be executed, saying that he would give him a year out of his own life; that this year, added to the other five, completed the six years which had been promised to him, and that in consequence he did very wrong to complain. Sextus, confused and unable to make any answer, remained mute, and turning himself towards the ruelle of his bed, prepared for death in the midst of the terrible mental agitation caused by the remorse of his conscience. For the rest," adds De Thou, with amiable frankness, " I only mention this trait as a rumour spread by the Spaniards, and I should be very sorry to guarantee its truth."

Shaddai : One of the ten divine names given in the rabbinical legend of the angelic hierarchies. This essence influences the sphere of the moon: it causes increase and decrease, and rules the jinn and protecting spirits.

She-Goat : One of the branches of augury in ancient Rome dealt especially with the signs which might be derived from animals ; and it was believed that if a she-goat crossed the path of a man who was stepping out of his house it was a good omen, and he might proceed on his way rejoicing and "think upon Caranus."

Sheik Al Gebel : (See Assassins.)

Shekinah : Spiritualistic Journal. (See Spiritualism.)

Shelta Thari : An esoteric language spoken by the tinkers of Great Britain, and possibly a descendant of an "inner" language employed by the ancient Celtic Druids or bards. It was in 1876 that the first hint of the existence of Shelta Than reached the ears of that prince of practical philologists, Charles Godfrey Leland. It seems strange that George Borrow had never stumbled upon the language, and that fact may be taken as a strong proof of the jealousy with which the nomadic classes guarded it. Leland relates how he and Professor E. H. Palmer, were wandering on the beach at Aberystwyth when they met a tramp, who heard them indulging in a conversation in Romany. Leland questioned the man as to how he gained a living, and he replied, " Shelkin gallopas." The words were foreign even to the master of dialect, and he inquired their import. "Why," said the man, "it means selling ferns. That is tinker’s language or minklers’ thari. I thought as you knew Romany, you might understand it. The right name for the tinkers’ language is Shelta." " It was," says Leland, "with the feelings of Columbus the night before he discovered America that I heard the word Shelta, and I asked the fern-dealer if he could talk it." The man replied " A little," and on the spot the philologist collected a number of words and phrases from the fern-seller which gave him sufficient insight into the language to prove to him that it was absolutely different from Romany. The Celtic origin of the dialect soon began to commend itself to Leland, and he attempted to obtain from the man some verse or jingle in it, possibly for the purpose of observing its syntactical arrangement. But all he was able to drag from his informant were some rhymes of no philological value, and he found he had soon pumped the tramp dry. It was in America that Leland nearly terrified a tinker out of his wits by speaking to him in the lost dialect. The man, questioned as to whether he could speak Shelta, admitted the soft impeachment. He proved to be an Irishman, Owen Macdonald by name, and he furnished Leland with an invaluable list of several hundred words. But Leland could not be sure upon which of the Celtic languages the dialect was based. Owen Macdonald declared to him that it was a fourth language, which had nothing in common with old Irish, Welsh, or Gaelic, and hazarded the information that it was the idiom of the "Ould Picts," but this appears to be rather too conjectural for the consumption of the philologist. Shelta is not a jargon, for it can be spoken grammatically without using English, as in the British form of Romany. Pictish in all probability was not a Celtic language, nor even an Aryan one, however intimately it may have been affected by Celtic speech in the later stages of its existence. Leland’s discovery was greeted in some quarters with inextinguishable laughter. The Saturday Review jocosely suggested that he had been " sold," and that old Irish had been palmed off on him for a mysterious lingo. He put this view of the matter before his tinker friend, who replied with grave solemnity, "And what’d I be afther makin’ two languages av thim for, if there was but wan av thim ?" Since Leland’s day much has been done to reclaim this mysterious tongue, chiefly through the investigations of Mr. John Sampson and Professor Kuno Meyer. The basis of these investigations rested on the fact that the tinker caste of Great Britain and Ireland was a separate class-so separate indeed as almost to form a race by itself. For hundreds of years, possibly, this fraternity existed with nearly all its ancient characteristics, and on the general disuse of Celtic speech had conserved it as a secret dialect. The peculiar thing concerning Shelta is the extent of territory over which it is spoken. That it is known rather extensively in London itself was discovered by Leland, who heard it spoken by two small boys in the Euston Road, They were not Gypsies, and Leland found out that one of them spoke the language with great fluency. Since Leland’s discoveries Shelta has been to some extent mapped out into dialects, one of the most important of which is that of Ulster, It would be difficult to explain in the course of such an article as this exactly how long the Ulster dialect of this strange and ancient tongue differs from that in use in other parts of Great Britain and Ireland. But that it does so is certain. Nearly eighteen years ago Mr. John Sampson, of Liverpool, a worthy successor to Borrow and Leland, and a linguist of repute. collected a number of sayings and proverbs from two old Irish tinkers-John Barlow and Phil Murray-which he distinctly states are in the Ulster dialect of Shelta. Some of these may be quoted to provide the reader with specimens of the language :-Krish gyukera have muni Sheldru - Old beggars have good Shelta. Stimera dhi-ilsha, stimera aga dhi-ilsha - If you’re a piper, have your own pipe. Misjo granhes thaber-The traveller knows the road. Thom Blorne mjesh Nip gloch-Every Protestant isn’t an Orangeman. Nus a dhabjon dhuilsha-The blessing of God on you. Misli, gami gra dhi-il-Be off, and bad luck to you.

There seems to be considerable reason to believe that the tinker (or more properly " tinkler ") class of Great Britain sprang from the remnants of its ancient Celtic inhabitants, and differed as completely from the Gypsy, or Romany, race as one people can well differ from another. This is almost conclusively proved by the criterion of speech, for Shelta is a Celtic tongue and that Romany is a dialect of Northern Hindustan is not open to doubt. Those who now speak Romany habitually almost invariably make use of Shelta as well, but that only proves that the two nomadic races, having occupied the same territory for hundreds of years, had gained a knowledge of each other’s languages. Who, then, were the original progenitors of the tinkers ? Whoever they were, they were a Celtic-speaking race, and probably a nomadic one. Shelta has been referred to as the language of the ancient bards of Ireland, the esoteric tongue of an Irish priesthood. Leland puts forward the hypothesis that the Shelta-speaking tinker is a descendant of a prehistoric guild of bronze-workers. This, he thinks, accounts in part for his secretiveness as regards his language. In Italy to this very day the tinker class is identified with the itinerant bronze workers. The tinker fraternity of Great Britain and Ireland existed with perhaps nearly all its ancient characteristics until the advent of railroads. But long before this it had probably amalgamated to a great extent with the Gypsy population, and the two languages had become common to the two peoples. This is the only explanation that can be given for the appearance of Shelta, a Celtic language, in the non-Celtic portions of Great Britain. That it originated in Ireland appears to be highly probable, for in no other part of these islands during the later Celtic period was there a state of civilisation sufficiently advanced to permit of the existence of a close corporation of metal-workers possessing a secret language. Moreover, the affinities of Shelta appear to be with old Irish more than with any other Celtic dialect. There is one other theory that presents itself in connection with the origin of Shelta, and that is, that it is the modern descendant of the language of the " Ould Picts" mentioned by Owen Macdonald, Leland’s tinker friend. It has by no means been proved that Pictish was a non-Aryan language, and, despite the labours of Professor Rhys, we are as far off as ever from any definite knowledge concerning the idiom spoken by that mysterious people. But there are great difficulties in the way of accepting the hypothesis of the Pictish origin of Shelta, the chief among them being its obvious Irish origin. There were, it is known, Picts in the North of Ireland, but they were almost certainly a small and barbarous colony, and a very unlikely community to form a metal-working confraternity, possessing the luxury of a private dialect. It still remains for the Celtic student to classify Shelta, It may prove to be " Pictish," strongly influenced by the Gaelic of Ireland and Scotland. A comparison with Basque and the dialect of the Iberian tribes of Morocco might bring affinities to light, and thus establish the theory of its non-Aryan origin but its strong kinship with Erse seems undoubted.

(See Journal of the Gypsy Lore Society, New Series.)

Shemhamphorash : In the Talmud, the external term representing the hidden word of power, by whose virtues it were possible to create a new world, But it is lost to man, though even sounds approximating to it have a magic power, and can give to him who pronounces them dominion in the spirit-world. Some of the Rabbis say that the word of power contains twelve letters, others, forty-two, and yet others seventy-two but these are the letters of the divine alphabet, which God created from certain luminous points made by the concentration of the primal universal Light. Shemhamphorash is, in fact, the name of this word,

Sheol : (See Hell.)

Ship of the Dead : Akin to the superstitious idea of the death-coach is the belief that at times a phantom barque carries away the souls of men, In the form of a cloud-ship, or wrapped in a driving mist, it sails over mountains and moors, and at sea it sails in despite of wind and tide, A story is told of a certain pirate, at whose death a spectral ship approached in a cloud. As it sailed over the roof the house was filled with a sound as of a stormy sea, and when the ship had passed by the soul of the pirate accompanied it.

Shorter, Thomas : (See Spiritualism.)

Siberia : The barbarian tribes of Siberia all more or less practise the art of Sorcery, and this has been from time immemorial in the hands of the shamanistic or medicine-man class. The Samoyeds who are idol-worshippers believe also in the existence of an order of invisible spirits which they call tadebtsois. These are ever circling through the atmosphere, and are a constant menace to the native, who is anxious to propitiate them. This can only be effected through the intervention of a tadibe or Necromancer, who. when his services are requisitioned, attires himself in magical costume of reindeer leather trimmed with red cloth, a mask of red cloth, and a breast-plate of polished metal, He then takes a drum of reindeer skin (See Lap-land) ornamented with brass rings, and attended by an assistant. walks round in a circle invoking the presence of the spirits, shaking a large rattle the while. The noise grows louder, and as the spirits are supposed to draw near the sorcerer, he addresses them, beating his drum more gently, and pausing in his chant to listen to their answers. Gradually he works himself into a condition of frenzy, beats the drum with great violence, and appears to be possessed by the supernatural influence writhing and foaming at the mouth. All at once he stops. and oracularly pronounces the will of the spirits. The Tadibe’s office is a hereditary one, but if a member of the tribe should exhibit special qualifications he is adopted into the priesthood, and by fasts, vigils, the use of narcotics and stimulants in the same manner as is employed by the N.A. Indians (q.v.), he comes to believe that he has been visited by the spirits. He is then adopted as a Tadibe with midnight ceremonial, and is invested with a magic drum. A great many of the tricks of the priesthood are merely those of ordinary conjuring, such as the rope trick, but some of the illusions which these men secure are exceedingly striking. With their hands and feet tied together, they sit on a carpet of reindeer skin, and putting out the light, summon the assistance of the spirits. Peculiar noises herald their approach, snakes hiss, and bears growl, the lights are rekindled and the tadibe is seen released from his bonds.

The Samoyeds sacrifice much to the dead, and perform various ceremonies in their honour, but they believe that only the souls of the tadibes enjoy immortality and hover through the air, demanding constant sacrifice.

Further to the east, inhabiting the more northerly part of Siberia dwell the Ostiaks, who have nominally adopted the rites of the Greek Church, but magic is rife amongst them. Many Ostiaks carry about with them a description of fetish, which they call Schaitan, Whether this name, like the Arabic Sheitan, is merely a corruption of that of Satan, it would be difficult to say. Larger images of this kind are part of the furniture of an Ostiak lodge, but they are attired in seven pearl embroidered garments, and suspended to the neck by a string of silver coins, In a strange sort of dualism they are placed in many of the huts cheek by jowl with the image of the Virgin Mary, and at meal-times their lips are smeared with the blood of raw game or fish.

It is this people, the Ostiaks, with whom the word Shaman" originated. These Shamans are merely medicine-men

The Mongols, who inhabit the more southern parts of the great waste of Siberia are also ancient practitioners in sorcery, and rely greatly on divination. In order to discover what description of weather will be prevalent for any length of time they employ a stone endowed With magic virtues called yadeh-tash. This is suspended over, or lies in a basin of water with sundry ceremonies, and appears to be the same kind of stone in use among the Turcomans as related by Ibn Mohalhal, an early Arab traveller.

The celebrated conqueror. Timur, in his Memoirs, records that the Jets resorted to incantations to produce heavy rains which hindered his cavalry from acting against them. A Yadachi, or weather-conjuror, was taken prisoner, and after lie had been beheaded the storm ceased.

Babu refers to one of his early friends, Khwaja ka Mulai, as conspicuous for his skill in falconry and his knowledge of Yadageri, or the science of inducing rain and snow by means of enchantment. The Russians were much distressed by heavy rains in 1552, when besieging Kazan, and universally ascribed the unfavourable weather to the arts of the Tatar queen, who was an enchantress.

Early in the 18th century, the Chinese Emperor Shitsung issued a proclamation against rain-conjuring, addressed to the Eight Banners of Mongolia. If," indignantly observes the Emperor, if I, offering prayers in sincerity, have yet cause to fear that it may please heaven to leave my prayer unanswered, it is truly intolerable that mere common people wishing for rain should of their own fancy set up altars of earth; and bring together a rabble of Hoshang (Buddhist Bonzes) and Taossi to conjure the spirits to gratify their wishes.’’

Sibylline Books : The manuscripts which embodied the secrets of human destiny, the work of the sibyls (q.v.) or prophetesses of the ancient world. According to Tacitus, these books were first preserved in the Capitol. When it was burnt down, the precious leaves of Fate were preserved, and removed to the temple of Apollo Palatinus. Their after-fate is enshrouded in mystery, but it would seem that the Cumean books existed until 339 A.D., when they were destroyed by Stilikon. Augustus sent three ambassadors-Paulus Gabinus, Marcus Otacillius, and Lucius Valerius-into Asia, Africa, and Italy, but especially to the Erythraean Sibyl, to collect’ whatever could be discovered of the Sibylline Oracles, to replace those which had been lost or burnt. The books are of two kinds namely, the books of the elder Sibyls, that is, of the earlier Greek and Roman times; and the later, which were much falsified, and disfigured with numerous interpolations. Of the latter, eight books in Greek and Latin are still said to be extant. Those which are preserved in Rome had been collected from various places, at various times, and contained predictions of future events couched in the most mysterious of symbolic languages. At first they were permitted only to be read by descendants of Apollo, but later by the priests, until their care was entrusted to certain officials, who only replied to inquiries at the command of the Senate, in cases of extraordinary emergency. They were two at first, and named duumviri these were appointed by Tarquinius Superbus. Two hundred and thirteen years afterwards, ten more were appointed to their guardianship (decemviri), and Sulla increased the number to fifteen (quindecemviri.)

Siderit : Another name for the magnet.

Signs, Planetary : (See Astrology.)

Silvester II., Pope, (Gerbert, died 1003) : One of a number of popes who from the tenth century onwards were regarded as sorcerers. It was said-and the story probably emanated from the Gnostics who had been proscribed by the Church-that Gerbert had evoked a demon who obtained for him the papacy, and who further promised him that he should die only after he had celebrated High Mass in Jerusalem. One day, while he was saying mass in a Church in Rome, he felt suddenly ill, and remembering that he was in the Church of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem, he knew that the demon had played him a trick. Before he died, the chronicler continues, he confessed to his cardinals his compact with the devil. However, as Gerbert had been preceptor of two monarchs, and a friend of others, it is more likely that he owed his preference to one of these. He was one of the most learned men of his day, a proficient in mathematics, astronomy, and mechanics. He it was who introduced clocks, and some writers credit him with the invention of arithmetic as we now have it. It is not at all improbable that his scientific pursuits seemed to the ignorant to savour of magic. The technical language employed in his various studies might well have a sinister significance to the ignorant. The brazen head which William of Malmesbury speaks of as belonging to Silvester, and which answered questions in an oracular manner probably had its origin in a similar misinterpretation of scientific apparatus. But however that may be, there is no lack of picturesque detail in some of the stories told of him. By the aid of sorcery he is said to have discovered buried treasure and to have visited a marvellous underground palace, whose riches and splendour vanished at a touch. His very tomb was believed to possess the powers of sorcery, and to shed tears when one of the succeeding popes was about to die.

Simon Ben Yohai : (See Kabala.)

Simon Magus : The sorcerer mentioned in the New Testament (Acts viii.) who bewitched the people of Samaria, and led them to believe that he was possessed of divine power. He was born in Samaria or Cyprus and was among the number of Samaritans who, moved by the preaching of Philip, came to him for baptism. Later, when Peter and John laid their hands on the new converts, so that they received the Holy Ghost, Simon offered the disciples money to procure a similar power. But Peter sternly rebuked him for seeking to buy the gift of God with money, and bade him pray that his evil thought might be forgiven, whereupon the already repentant Simon said, " Pray ye to the Lord for me, that none of these things which ye have spoken come upon me.

Though we are not told in detail what the sorceries were with which Simon bewitched the people of Samaria, certain early ecclesiastical writers have left a record of his doings. He could, they averred, make himself invisible when he pleased, assume the appearance of another person, or of the lower animals, pass unharmed through fire, cause statues to become alive, make furniture move without any visible means of imparting motion, and go through a long list of equally miraculous performances. In explanation of his desire to possess the apostles’ power of working miracle she is said to have affirmed that his sorceries took a great deal of time and trouble to perform, owing to the necessity for a multitude of magical rites and incantations, while the miracles of the apostles were accomplished easily, and successfully, by the mere utterance of a few words.

The adept from whom Simon learned the art of magic was one Dositheus, who pretended to be the Messiah foretold by the prophets, and who was contemporary with Christ. From this person he appears to have acquired a great store of occult erudition, and owed his power chiefly to the hysterical conditions into which he was capable of throwing himself. Through these he was enabled to make himself look either old or young, returning at will to childhood or old age. It is evident that he had not been initiated into Transcendental Magic, but was merely consumed by a thirst for power over humanity and the mysteries of nature. Repulsed by the Apostles, he is said to have under-taken pilgrimages, like them, in which he permitted himself to be worshipped by the mob. He declared that he himself was the manifestation of the Splendour of God, and that Helena, a Greek slave of his, was its reflection. Thus he imitated Christianity in the reverse sense, affirmed the eternal reign of evil and revolt, and was, in fact, an antichrist.

After a while he went to Rome, where he appeared before the Emperor Nero. He is said to have been decapitated by him, but his head was restored to his shoulders, and he was instituted by the tyrant as court sorcerer. Legend states that St. Peter, alarmed at the spread of the doctrine of Simon in Rome, repaired thither to combat it, that Nero was made aware of his arrival, and imagining Peter to be a rival sorcerer resolved to bring them together for his amusement. An account ascribed to St. Clement states that on the arrival of Peter, Simon flew gracefully through a window into the outside air. The Apostle gave vent to a vehement prayer, whereupon the magician, with a loud cry, crashed to the earth, and broke both his legs. Nero, greatly annoyed, immediately imprisoned the saint, and it is related that Simon died of his fall. He had, however, founded a distinct school headed by Merrander, which promised immortality of soul and body to its followers. As late as 1858 there existed in France and America a sect which credited the principles of this magician.

Siradz, Count of : (See Dee.)

Sixth Sense : A term used to denote the faculty of spiritual perception. which is distinct from, and higher than, the five physical senses. It is the possession of the medium, the psychic or sensitive, and in some measure of all hypnotic subjects. It is not properly a separate sense at all, but is compounded from the spiritual correlates of the physical senses.

Slade, Henry : An American medium, principally known in connection with his slate-writing exploits. He came to Britain in July, 1876, and was cordially received by the leading spiritualists. Very many people were impressed and completely mystified by the phenomena they witnessed at his seances, and Lord Rayleigh, at a meeting of the British Association in September. 1876, stated that he had attended a seance of Slade’s in the company of a professional conjurer, and that the latter had failed entirely to find an explanation of the facts. A few days after this emphatic testimony was given, however, Professor Ray Lankester published in a letter to the Times the result of a seance at which he and Dr. Donkin were present. He had, he said, snatched the slate prematurely from Dr. Slade’s hand, and had found a message written thereon, though the sound of writing had not then been heard. The spiritualists maintained that the " exposure" was no exposure at all, since Slade declared that he had heard the spirits writing, and had mentioned the fact, but that his voice had been lost in the confusion. However, the medium’s career in Britain was at an end. At the instance of Professor Lankester he was tried in a court of law, and sentenced to three months imprisonment with hard labour. He appealed, and the conviction was quashed because of a slight omission in the charge. A fresh summons was issued on the following day, but Slade had left the country, and did not thereafter return. In the years 1877-88 Professor Zollner of Leipsic investigated the slate-writing and other phenomena occurring in the presence of Slade, mainly in the hope of establishing his theory of four-dimensional space. Knots were tied in endless cords, coins extracted from sealed boxes but Professor Zollner did not succeed in his attempt to have knots tied in a piece of bladder, or to have two rings of solid wood interlaced. In short, no really conclusive proof was obtained. In 1884 Slade’s phenomena was investigated by a committee appointed by the University of Pennsylvania. The results of the latter investigation were, at the best, of a negative description. (See also Slate-writing.)

Slate-writing : A form of the so-called " direct" spirit writing, or autography, which has always been one of the most popular phenomena of the seance. The modus operandi is the same in the majority of cases. The medium and the sitter take their seats at opposite ends of a small table, each grasping a corner of an ordinary school slate, which they thus hold firmly pressed against the underside of the table. A small fragment of slate-pencil is first enclosed between slate and table, for the use of the supposed spirit-writer. Should the seance be successful, a scratching sound, as of someone writing on a slate, is heard at the end of a few moments, three loud raps indicate the conclusion of the message, and on the withdrawal of the slate, it is found to be partly covered with writing-either a general message from the spirit-world, or an answer to some question previously written down by the sitter.

Among the mediums who were most successful in obtaining spirit writing in this manner were Dr. Slade and Air. Eglinton. The former, an American medium, came to England in 1876, and succeeded in mystifying not a few men of education and of scientific attainments. His critics have attributed his success, in part at least, to his frank and engaging manner, which did much to disarm suspicious sitters. However, ere long Professor Ray Lankester exposed his trickery, though the exposure was regarded by many as inconclusive, and " Dr." Henry Slade was prosecuted. Though sentenced to three months’ hard labour, the omission of certain words in the accusation made the conviction of no effect. But Dr. Slade found that England had become too hot for him, and speedily retired whence he had come. Many of the accounts of his seances in different countries are of interest, chiefly because of the discrepancy which exists between those of credulous spiritualists and those of trained investigations. Dr. Richard Hodgson, however, has pointed out that even in the latter class instances of mal-observation are the rule rather than the exception, particularly where sleight of hand plays a prominent part in the exhibition. A worthy successor to Slade was William Eglinton, who acted as medium for slate-writing manifestations, and attained to an extraordinary popularity, upwards of a hundred people testifying to his mediumistic powers in the spiritualist journal Light. Speaking of his performances, Mr. C. C. Massey said, "Many, of whom I am one, are of the opinion that the case for these phenomena generally, and for autography, in particular, is already complete." Eglinton’s manifestations were produced in full light, and his seances were seldom blank, so it is hardly surprising that very many persons, ignorant of the lengths to which conjuring can be carried, and over-confident in their own ability to observe correctly, should see in slate-writing a phenomenon explicable only by a spiritualistic theory. But there was definite proof of fraud in several cases. Muslin and a false beard, part of the make-up of a "spirit" had been found in Eglinton’s portmanteau, various persons averred that they had seen his messages written on prepared slates previous to the seance, and he had been concerned in other matters of an equally doubtful character. And though these detections also were disputed they left in the unbiassed mind but little doubt of the fraudulent nature of Eglinton’s mediumship.

Spiritualists themselves admitted that fraud might occasionally be practised by genuine mediums, owing to the uncertainty of the "power." Particularly was this so in the case of professional mediums, who were obliged to produce some results, and who had to resort to trickery when other means failed them. Mr. S. J. Davey, an associate of the Society for Psychical Research who, having discovered the tricks of slate-writing, practised them himself, was claimed by certain spiritualists as a medium as well as a conjurer, and that notwithstanding his protestations to the contrary. This is undoubtedly a powerful argument against the good faith of slate-writing.. If his sitters could mistake these sleight-of-hand tricks-which Mr. Davey practised with the express purpose of discrediting their professional mediums-for genuine spirit manifestations, might they not also be misled by the legerdemain of Slade and Eglinton, and other well-known mediums ? It has been objected that even skilled conjurers such as " Professor" Hoffmann and Houdin professed themselves mystified by slate-writing performances, but the answer is fairly obvious, that quite a clever conjurer may be baffled by the performances of a brother-expert. The methods adopted by Mr. Davey were of a simple nature, requiring little or no apparatus. In the case of a long, general message, he would prepare a slate beforehand, and substitute it for the test slate. A shorter message, or a reply to a question, he would write on the reverse side of the slate, with a scrap of pencil fastened in a thimble, and so withdraw the slate that the side written on would be uppermost. There is reason to believe that like simple devices were used in other seances, for their very simplicity, and the absence of all apparatus, rendered them particularly difficult of detection. But where the sitters were more credulous, intricate furniture and appliances were used, and the most elaborate preparations made for the seance.                   (See Pope John XXII.)

Slavs : The Slavonic races have an extensive demonology, and in some measure their religious pantheon appears to have been in a stage between animism (q.v.) and polytheism, that is between god, and spirit-worship. Among them all witchcraft, fairy and folk-lore rest mainly in a belief in certain spirits of nature, which in some measure recall the pneumatology of Paracelsus and the Comte de Gabalis. In the vile," says Dr. Krauss, " also known as Samovile, Samodivi, and Vilivrjaci, we have near relations to the forest and field spirits or the wood and moss-folk of Middle Germany, France and Bavaria the " wild people of Hesse, Eifel, Salzburg and the Tyrol, the wood-women and wood-men of Bohemia, the Tyrolese Fanggen, Fanken, Norkel and Happy Ladies, the Roumanish Orken, Euguane, and Dialen, the Danish Ellekoner, the Swedish

Skogsnufvaz, and the Russian Ljesje, while in certain respects they have affinity with the Teutonic Valkyries." They are, however, more like divine beings, constantly watching over and controlling the destinies of men. They are prayed to or exorcised on all occasions. In short their origin is certainly Shamanistic. Says Leland : We can still find the vila as set forth in old ballads, the incarnation of beauty and power, the benevolent friend of sufferers, the geniuses of heroes, the dwellers by rock and river and greenwood tree. But they are implacable in their wrath to all who deceive them, or who break a promise. Nay, they inflict terrible punishment even on those who disturb their rings, or the dances which they make by midsummer moonlight. Hence the proverb applied to any man who suddenly fell ill, ‘ he stepped on a fairy ring.’ " (See Circles.)

There are three varieties of witches or spirits among the southern Slavs, the Zracne vile, or aerial spirits, evilly disposed to human beings, and inflicting serious injuries upon them, Will-’o-the-wisps, who lead people astray by nights; the Pozemne vile, companionable spirits, who give sage counsel to mankind, and dwell in the earth; and the Podovne vile, or water sprites, kindly to man on shore. but treacherous to a degree on their own element. Another water-spirit is the Likho, the Slavonic Polyphemus, a dread and terrible monster, the Leshy is a wood-demon, Norka is the frightful Lord of the Lower World, and Koschei is a description of ogre whose province is the abduction of princesses.

Witchcraft.-The witch is very frequently mentioned in Slavonic folk-tales, especially among the southern Slavs. She is called vjestica, (masculine viestac) meaning originally "the knowing" or "well-informed one," Viedma (Russian). In Dalmatia and elsewhere among the Southern Slavs the witch is called Krstaca, " the crossed "in allusion to the idea that she is of the horned race of Hell. It enrages the witches so much to be called by this word that when they hear that any one has used it they come to his house by night and tear him in four pieces, which they cast to the four winds of heaven, and drive away all his cattle and stock. Therefore the shrewd farmers of the country call the witch hmana zena, or " Common woman." There are many forms of Slavonic witch, however, and the vjestica differs from the macionica and the latter from the Zlokobnica, or " evil-meeter,’ one whom it is unlucky to encounter in the morning, or possesses the evil eye. A Serbian authority says: " I have often heard from old Hodzas and Kadijas that every female Wallach as soon as she is forty years old, abandons the" God be with us," and becomes a witch (vjestica) or at least a zlokobnica or macionica. A real witch has the mark of a cross under her nose, a zlokobnica has some hairs of a beard, and a macionica may be known by a forehead full of dark folds with blood-spots in her face."

In South Slavonian countries the peasants on St. George’s Day adorn the horns of the cattle with garlands to protect them from witches. They attach great importance to a seventh or a twelfth child, who, they believe, are the great protectors of the world against witchcraft. But these are in great danger on St. John’s Eve, for then the witches, having the most power, attack them with stakes or the stumps of saplings, for which reason the peasantry carefully remove everything of the kind from the ground in the autumn season. The Krstnik, or wizards, notoriously attract the vila ladies, who in most instances are desirous of becoming their mistresses, just as the women-kind of the salamanders desire to mate with men. (See the Curiosa of Heinrich Kornmann, 1666.) The man who gains the love of a vila is supposed to be extremely lucky. The Slavs believe that on St. George’s Day the witches climb into the steeples of churches with the object of getting the grease from the axle of the bell, which, for some reason, they prize exceedingly. Transformation stories are fairly common, too, in Slavonic folklore, which proves that this was a form of magic employed by the witches of these countries. The belief in vampires is an outstanding superstition in Slavonic countries, and its connections are fully discussed in the article Vampire.

Slawensik Poltergeist : In the winter of 1806-7 Councillor Hahn and an officer named Charles Kern, living for the time in the Castle of Salwensik, Silesia, were disturbed by curious happenings which suggested that the Castle was haunted. Strange noises were heard, small objects were seen to rise from the table and fly through the room. The only account is by Councillor Hahn, and, as is generally the case in such circumstances, the most surprising occurrences were not witnessed by the recorder, but were told him by his friends. Thus Kern is said to have seen in the glass the apparition of a woman in white; while Hahn was not present when a jug of beer was raised from the table by invisible hands, tilted, and its contents poured down an invisible throat.

Sleeping Preacher : Rachel Baker, known as the Sleeping Preacher, was born at Pelham, Massachusetts, in 1794. When she was nine years old her parents removed to Marcellus, N.Y. As a child she had a religious training, her parents being devout people, and she early manifested a strong conviction of her sinfulness. In 1811 she showed symptoms of somnambulism, in which she seemed stricken with horror and despondency. But gradually her mind became calmer, and delivered discourses of singular clearness, marked by a devout and solemn tone. These fits of somnambulism, or trance - speaking, seized her regularly every day, and soon became habitual. She began and concluded her devotional exercises with prayer, between which came the discourse. Then a state of apparent physical distress supervened, and sobs and groans shook her frame. At length the paroxysm passed, and she subsided into a natural sleep. Change of scene did not affect these exercises, but the administration of opium would interrupt them. Her trance discourses were afterwards published.

Smagorad, a magic book : (See France.)

Smith Helene : The nom-de-guerre of a trance medium who came under the observation of Professor Flournoy. Born about 1863, at the age of twenty-nine she joined a spiritualist circle and soon developed powerful mediumistic faculties. In 1894 M. Flournoy was admitted to the circle and thence-forward examined with much interest the clairvoyance and trance impersonations of Helene. In the winter of 1894 she purported to have visited, during trance, the planet Mars, and many of her trance discourses after that date contain descriptions of Martian life-manners, dress, scenery. At length she claimed to have learned the language of the sister-planet, and this language she spoke with fluency and consistency. (See Martian Language.) Professor Flournoy however, found no evidence sufficient to justify any belief in a supernormal faculty, unless it be telepathy.

Smith, Joseph : (See America, U.S. of.)

Sneezing, Superstitions Relating to : It is said that the custom of blessing one who sneezes originated in Italy in the time of Gregory the Great, during a pestilence which proved mortal to those who sneezed. A still older date is given to this custom by some writers, who state that sneezing was fatal from the time of Adam to that of Jacob, when the latter begged that its fatal effects might be removed. On his request being granted, the people gratefully instituted the custom of saluting the sneezer. In some diseases sneezing was a bad, in others a good omen. Sneezing to the right was lucky, to the left, unlucky; from noon to midnight good, from night to noon, bad. St. Austin says that the ancients would return to bed if they sneezed while putting on a shoe.

Societas Rosicruciana of Boston : (See Rosicrucians.)

Societe Industrielle of Wiemar : (See Alchemy.)

Societe Industrielle of Wien : (See Alchemy.)

Societe Spiritual di Palermo : (See Italy.)

Societies of Harmony : Associations formed for the practice of magnetism by the pupils of F. A. Mesmer. The first Societe de 1’ Harmonie was formed at Paris, and its members seem to have acted in a manner that was anything but harmonious, for, after some quarrelling among themselves they at length broke their contract with Mesmer, whereby they promised before being admitted to his lectures, that they would not practice on their own account, or give away the secret of his methods, without his consent. Other Societies of Harmony soon sprang up, the most important being that of Strasbourg, founded in 1785 by de Puysegur.

Society for Psychical Research : (See Spiritualism, Psychic Research.)

Solanot, Viscount : (See Spain.)

Solar Deity : (See Theosophy.)

Solar System : Theosophists have special doctrines as to the formation of solar systems. They start by postulating the existence of all pervading ether, or, as it is termed in occult chemistry (q.v.) koilon an ether which is quite imperceptible to ordinary senses and indeed even to clairvoyants except the most highly-developed. It is, despite its diffusion, of extreme density. The Deity intending to create a universe invests this ether with his divine force, whereupon it becomes the constituent of matter in the shape of minute drops or bubbles, and of this the universe with its solar systems is formed. First a mass is aggregated by the appropriate agitation of these drops, and to this mass is imparted a rotatory motion. The mass thus formed, of course, contains the matter from which will be formed all the seven worlds, the existence of which Theosophy teaches, and it may be well here to observe that these worlds are not separate in the manner we usually conceive separate worlds to be, but inter-penetrate each other. The substance in its original form is of the texture of the first world, and in order to create the texture of the second-and lower-world the Deity sets up a vast number of rotatory agitations into each of which is collected 49 atoms arranged in a certain way, sufficient of the first atom having been left to form the first world. This process continues six times, the atoms of the succeeding lower worlds being formed from those of the world immediately higher and each time of a multiple of 49 atoms. Gradually and with the passing of long ages, the aggregation, which contains the atoms of all seven worlds completely intermingled, contracts and becomes more closely knit until it forms a nebula which eventually attains the fiat, circular form familiar to students of astronomy. Towards the centre it is much more dense than at the fringes, and in the process of flattering and because of the initial revolving motion, rings ‘are formed encircling the centre. From these rings the planets are formed, and after the further passing of ages, it is possible for human life to exist on them. The various worlds as has been said, penetrate each other substantially within the same bounds, the exceptions being the worlds of finer texture which extend beyond those relatively more dense. The names of the worlds are: the first which has not as yet been experienced by man-the Divine; the second, the Monadic whence come the impulses that form man; the third, the Spiritual, the highest world which man has as yet been able to experience ; the fourth, the Intuitional, the fifth, the Mental; the sixth, the Emotional (Astral) world ; and the seventh is the world of matter as matter is familiar to us. Reference is made to the various articles dealing more fully with these worlds as follows :-

Adi Plane, (See Divine World and Solar System)

Annpadaka ,, ,, Monadic

Atmic or Movanic ,, ,, Spiritual

Buddhic ,, ,, Inutitional

Astral ,, ,, Emotional

Solomon : The connection of Solomon, son of David, the King of Israel, with magical practice, although it does not possess any Biblical authority, has yet a very considerable body of oriental tradition behind it. It is supposed, however, that the Jewish Solomon has in many cases been confounded with a still older and mythical figure. Then the Arabs and Persians have legends of a prehistoric race who were ruled by seventy-two monarchs of the name of Suleiman, of whom the last reigned one thousand years. It does not seem," says Yarker, " that these Suleimans who are par excellence the rulers of all Djinn, Afreets and other elemental spirits, bear any relationship to the Israelite King." The name, he says, is found in that of a god of the Babylonians and the late Dr. Kenealy, the translator of Hafiz, says that the earliest Aryan teachers were named Mohn, Bodles or Solymi, and that Suleiman was an ancient title of royal power, synonymous with Sultan" or " Pharaoh." A Persian legend states that in the mountains of Kaf, which can only be reached by the magic ring of Solomon, there is a gallery built by the giant Arzeak, where one kept the statues of a race who were ruled by the Suleiman or wise Kings of the East. There is a great chair or throne of Solomon hewn out of the solid rock, on the confines of the Afghanistan and India called the

Takht-i-Suleiman or throne of Solomon, its ancient Aryan name being Shanker Acharga. It is to these older Suleiman’s then, that we must probably look for a connection with the tradition of occultism, and it is not unlikely that the legend relating to Solomon and his temple have been confused with these, and that the protagonists of the antiquity of Freemasonry, who date their cult from the building of Solomon’s Temple, have confounded some still older rite or mystery relating to the ancient dynasty of Suleiman with the circumstances of the masonic activities of the Hebrew monarch.

"God," says Josephus, " enabled Solomon to learn that skill which expels daemons, which is a science useful and sanative to men. He composed such incantations, also, by which distempers are alleviated, and he left behind him the manner of using exorcisms, by which they drive away daemons, so that they never return. And this method of cure is of great force unto this day; for I have seen a certain man of my own country, whose name was Eleazar, releasing people that were daemoniacal, in the presence of Vespasian and his sons, and his captains, and the whole multitude of his soldiers. The manner of the cure was this. He put a ring that had a root of one of these sorts mentioned by Solomon to the nostrils ; and when the man fell down immediately, he adjured him to return unto him no more, making still mention of Solomon, and reciting the incantations which he composed. And when Eleazar would persuade and demonstrate to the spectators that he had such a power, he set, a little way off, a cup, or basin full of water, and commanded the daemon as he went out of the man, to overturn it, and thereby to let the spectators know that he had left the man." Some pretended fragments of these conjuring books of Solomon are noticed in the" Codex Pseudepigraphus" of Fabricius, and Josephus himself has described one of the anti-daemoniacal roots, which must remind the reader of the perils attendant on gathering the " mandrake."

The Koran alleges that Solomon had power over the winds, and that he rode on his throne throughout the world during the day, and the wind brought it back every night to Jerusalem. This throne was placed on a carpet of green silk, of a prodigious length and breadth, and sufficient to afford standing-room to all Solomon’s army, the men on his right hand and the Jinn on his left. An army of the most beautiful birds hovered near the throne, forming a kind of canopy over it, and the attendants, to screen the king and his soldiers from the sun. A certain number of evil spirits were also made subject to him, whose business it was to dive for pearls, and perform other work. We are also informed, on the same authority, that the devils, having received permission to tempt Solomon, in which they were not successful, conspired to ruin his character. They wrote several books of magic, and hid them under his throne; and when he died they told the chief men among the Jews that if they wished to ascertain the manner in which Solomon obtained his absolute power over men, Genii, and the winds, they should dig under his throne. They did so and found the books, abounding with the most impious superstitions. The more learned and enlightened refused to participate in the practices described in those books, but they were willingly adopted by the common people. The Mahomedans assert that the Jewish priests published this scandalous story concerning Solomon, which was believed till Mahomet, by God’s command, declared him to have been no idolater.

Solomon, it is further maintained by the Mahomedans, brought a thousand horses from Damascus and other cities he conquered, though some say they were left to him by his father David, who seized them from the Amalekites; and others pretend that they came out of the Red Sea, and were provided with wings. The King wished to inspect his horses, and ordered them to be paraded before him; and their symmetry and beauty so much occupied his attention that he gazed on them after sunset, and thus neglected evening prayers till it was too late. When sensible of his omission, he was so greatly concerned at it that he ordered all the horses to be killed as an offering to God, except a hundred of the best of them. This, we are informed, procured for him an ample recompense, as he received for the loss of his horses dominion over the winds.

The following tradition is narrated by the Mahomedan commentators relative to the building of the temple of Jerusalem. According to them, David laid the foundations of it, and when he died he left it to be finished by Solomon. That prince employed Jinn, and not men, in the work; and this idea might probably originate from what is said in the First Book of Kings (vi., 7) that the Temple was " built of stone, made ready before it was brought thither, so that there was neither hammer, nor axe, nor any tool of iron, heard in the house while it was building" ; and the Rabbins notice a worm which, they pretend, assisted the workmen, the power of which was such as to cause the rocks and stones to separate in chiselled blocks. Solomon, while engaged in the erection of the Temple, found his end approaching, and he prayed that his death might be concealed from the Jinn till the building was finished. His request was granted. He died while in the act of praying, and leaning on his staff, which supported his body in that posture for a whole year, and the Jinn, who supposed him to be still alive, continued their work. At the expiration of the year the edifice was completed, when a worm which had entered the staff, ate it through. and to the amazement even of the Jinn the body fell to the ground, and the King was discovered to be dead.

The inhabitants of the valley of Lebanon believe that the celebrated city and temple of Baalbec were erected by the Jinn under Solomon’s direction. The object of the erection of baalbec is variously stated, one tradition affirming that it was intended to be a residence for the Egyptian princess whom Solomon married, and another that it was built for the Queen of Sheba.

Solomon Ibn Gabirol (1021-1055) : Spanish-Hebrew poet and mystic philosopher. He was a Neoplatonist, but at the same time subscribed to the mystical doctrine which states that the Deity can only be regarded as a negation of all attributes. This he considered essential to the preservation of the Jewish monotheism.

Solomon, Mirror of : The method of making the Mirror of Solomon, which is used for purposes of divination, is as follows: Take a shining and well-polished plate of fine steel, slightly concave, and with the blood of a white pigeon inscribe at the four corners the names-Jehovah, Eloym, Metatron, Adonay. Place the mirror in a clean and white cloth, and when you behold a new moon during the first hour after sunset, repeat a prayer that the angel Anael may command and ordain his companions to act as they are instructed ; that is, to assist the operator in divining from the mirror. Then cast upon burning coals a suitable perfume, at the same time uttering a prayer. Repeat this thrice, then breathe upon the mirror and evoke the angel Anael. The sign of the cross is then made upon the operator and upon the mirror for forty-five days in succession-at the end of which period Anael appears in the form of a beautiful child to accomplish the operator’s wishes. Sometimes he appears on the fourteenth day, according to the devotion and fervour of the operator. The perfume used in evoking him is saffron.

Solomon’s Stables : (See Subterranean Crypts.)

Somnambulism : (Latin, somnus, sleep, and ambulare, to walk.) The condition in which walking, talking, and actions of a more complicated character are performed during sleep, without the agent’s consciousness or after recollection. The somnambulist may have his eyes closed, and ears deaf to auditory impressions or sense impressions. without waking in him any gleam of consciousness. This may have some effect in rousing new trains of association and suggesting a new line of action. It is suggested that the sleep-walker may see only a mental picture of what he is doing-that is, a dream-and not the objective reality, and certain experimental tests have proved that this occurs in some cases at least. Somnambulism admits of many varying degrees. Its mildest form is typified in the inarticulate murmurings or vague gestures of a dreaming child, while in the most extreme cases where all the senses are active, and the actions apparently as purposive as in the normal waking state, it borders on the condition of spontaneous hypnotism. Indeed its affinity with hypnosis was early recognised, when the hypnotic subjects of the magnetists were designated somnambules. It is remarkable that somnambulists may walk in dangerous paths with perfect safety, but if they are suddenly awakened they are liable to fall. Spontaneous somnambulism generally indicates some morbid tendency of the nervous system, since, as a rule, only in some abnormal state could the dream ideas exercise so exciting an influence on the brain as to rouse to activity centres normally controlling voluntary movements.

Sorcery : (From Latin sortiarius, one who practices divination by lots.) The use of supposed supernatural power by the agency of evil spirits called forth by spells by a witch or black magician. (See Magic.)

Sorrel-leaf : A sorrel-leaf was sometimes used to bewitch people, as in the case of the Irish Witch mentioned in George Sinclair’s Satan’s Invisible World Displayed, who gave to a girl a leaf of sorrel, which the child put into her mouth. Great torture ensued for the child, such tortures being increased on the approach of the witch.

Sortilege : or divination by lots, is one of the most ancient and common superstitions. We find it used among the Oriental nations to detect a guilty person, as when Saul by this means discovered that Jonathan had disobeyed his command by taking food, and when the sailors by a similar process found Jonah to be the cause of the tempest by which they were overtaken. The methods of using the lot have been very numerous, such as Rhabdomancy, Clidomancy, the Sortes Sagittariae, otherwise Belomancy, and the common casting of dice. The following are the more classical:- 

Sortes Thriaecae, or Thriaean lots, were chiefly used in Greece ; they were pebbles or counters distinguished by certain characters which were cast into an urn, and the first that came out was supposed to contain the right direction. This form of divination received its name from the Thrise, three nymphs supposed to have nursed Apollo, and to have invented this mode of predicting futurity.

Sortes Viales, or street and road lots, were used both in Greece and Rome, The person that was desirous to learn his fortune carried with him a certain number of lots, distinguished by several characters or inscriptions, and walking to and fro in the public ways desired the first boy whom he met to draw, and the inscription on the lot thus drawn was received as an infallible prophecy. Plutarch declares that this form of divination was derived from the Egyptians, by whom the actions and words of boys were carefully observed as containing in them something prophetical. Another form of the Sortes Viales was exhibited by a boy, but sometimes by a man, who posted himself in a public place to give responses to all comers. He was provided with a tablet, on which certain fatidical verses were written when consulted, he cast dice on the tablet, and the verses on which they fell were supposed to contain the proper direction. Sometimes instead of tablets they had urns, in which the fatidical verses were thrown, written upon slips of parchment. The verse drawn out was received as a sure guide and direction. To this custom Tibullus alludes:-

"Thrice in the streets the sacred lots she threw, And thrice the boy a happy omen drew."

This form of divining was often practised with the Sibylline oracles, and was hence named Sortes Sibyllina.

Sortes Prenestinae, or the Prenestine lots, were used in Italy; the letters of the alphabet were placed in an urn and shaken; they were then turned Out upon the floor, and the words which they accidentally formed were received as omens. This superstitious use of letters is still common in Eastern nations. The Mussulmans have a divining table, which they say was invented by the prophet Edris or Enoch. It is divided into a hundred little squares, each of which contains a letter of the Arabic alphabet. The person who consults it repeats three times the opening chapter of the Koran, and the 57th verse of the 6th chapter:

"With Him are the keys of the secret things ; none knoweth them but Him ; He knoweth whatever is on the dry ground, or in the sea: there falleth no leaf but He knoweth it ; neither is there a single grain in the dark parts of the earth, nor a green thing, nor a dry thing, but it is written in a perspicuous book." Having concluded this recitation, he averts his head from the table and places his finger upon it ; lie then looks to see upon what letter his finger is placed, writes that letter ; the fifth following it; the fifth following that again; and so on until he comes back to the first he had touched: the letters thus collected form the answer.

Sortes Homericae and Sortes Virgilianae, divination by opening some poem at hazard, and accepting the passage which first turns up as an answer. This practice probably arose from the esteem which poets had among the ancients, by whom they were reputed divine and inspired persons. Homer’s works among the Greeks had the most credit, but the tragedies of Euripides and other celebrated poems were occasionally used for the same purpose. The Latins chiefly consulted Virgil, and many curious coincidences are related by grave historians, between the prediction and the event; thus, the elevation of Severus to the empire is supposed to have been foretold by his opening at this verse:-

"Remember, Roman, with imperial sway

to rule the nations."

It is said that Charles I. and Lord Falkland made trial of the Virgilian lots a little before the commencement of the great civil war. The former opened at that passage in the fourth book of the AEneid where Dido predicts the violent death of her faithless lover ; the latter at the lamentation of Evander over his son in the eleventh book; if the story be true, the coincidences between the responses and events are among the most remarkable recorded.

Sortes Biblicae, divination by the Bible, which the early Christians used instead of the profane poets. Nicephorus Gregoras recommends the Psalter as the fittest book for the purpose, but Cedrenus informs us that the New Testament was more commonly used. St. Augustine denounces this practice in temporal affairs, but declares in one of his letters that he had recourse to it in all cases of spiritual difficulty. Another form of the Biblical lots is to go to a place of worship, and take as an omen the first passage of Scripture read by the minister, or the text from which he preaches. This is no uncommon practice in modern times, and it is frequently vindicated by persons who ought to know better,

The Mussulmans consult the Koran in a similar manner, but they deduce their answer from the seventh line of the right-hand page. Others count how often the letters kha and shin occur in the page; if kha (the first letter of kheyr, "good") predominate, the answer is deemed favourable; but if shin (the first letter of shin " evil") be more frequent, the inference is that the projects of the inquirer are forbidden or dangerous.

It would be easy to multiply examples of these efforts to obtain guidance from blind chance; they were once so frequent, that it was deemed necessary to denounce them from the pulpit as being clearly forbidden by the divine precept, "Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God."

South American Indians : (See American Indians.)

Sovereign Council of Wisdom : (See Devil-worship.)

Spain : Witchcraft.-From early times Spain was regarded as the special abode of superstition, and in the middle ages as the home of sorcery and magic, probably because of the immense notoriety given to the discoveries of the Moorish alchemists. (See Moors.) The Inquisition quickly took root in the country, and reaped a rich harvest among Jews, Moriscos, and superstitious Christians.

Alfonso de Spina. a Franciscan of Castille, where the Inquisition was not then established, wrote, about the year 1458 or 1460, a work especially directed against heretics and unbelievers, in which he gives a chapter on these articles of popular belief which were derived from the ancient heathendom of the people. Among these, witches, under the name of Xurguine (jurgina) or bruxe, held a prominent place.

He tells us that in his time these offenders abounded in Dauphiny and Gascony, where they assembled in great numbers by night on a wild table land, carrying candles with them, to worship Satan, who appeared in the form of a boar on a certain rock, popularly known by the name Elboch de Biterne, and that many of them had been taken by the inquisition of Toulouse and burnt. From that time we find, in Spanish history, the charge of witchcraft and sorcery not infrequently brought forward under different forms and circumstances, of which several remarkable examples are given by Llorente in his History of the Inquisition in Spain.

The first auto-da-fi against sorcery appears to have been that of Calahorra, in 1507, when thirty women, charged before the inquisition as witches, were burnt. In 1527. a great number of women were accused in Navarre of the practice of sorcery, through the information of two girls, one of eleven, the other only of nine years old, who confessed before the royal council of Navarre that they had been received into the sect of the jurginas, and promised on condition of being pardoned, to discover all the women who were implicated in these practices.

The moment the attention of the inquisition was thus drawn to the crime of sorcery, the prevalence of this superstition in the Basque provinces became notorious ; and Charles V., rightly judging that it was to be attributed more to the ignorance of the population of those districts than to any other cause, directed that preachers should be sent to instruct them.

The first treatise in the Spanish language on the subject of sorcery, by a Franciscan monk named Martin de Castanaga, was printed under approbation of the bishop of Calahorra in 1529. About this time the zeal of the inquisitors of Saragossa was excited by the appearance of many witches who were said to have come from Navarre, and to have been sent by their sect as missionaries to make disciples of the women of Arragon. This sudden witch-persecution in Spain appears to have had an influence on the fate of the witches of Italy. Pope Adrian IV., who was raised to the papal chair in 1522, was a Spanish bishop, and had held the office of inquisitor-general in Spain. In the time of Julius II., who ruled the papal world from 1503 to 1513, a sect of witches and sorcerers had been discovered in Lombardy, who were extremely numerous, and had their Sabbaths and all the other abominations of the continental witches. The proceedings against them appear to have been hindered by a dispute between the inquisitors and the ecclesiastical judges who claimed the jurisdiction in such cases. On the 20th July, 1523, pope Adrian issued a bull against the crime of sorcery, placing it in the sole jurisdiction of the inquisitors. This bull perhaps gave the new impulse to the prosecution of the witches in Spain.

Of the cases which followed during more than a century, the most remarkable was that of the auto-da-fe at Logrono on the 7th and 8th of November, 1610, which arose in some measure from the visitation of the French Basque province in the preceding year. The valley of Bastan is situated at the foot of the Pyrenees, on the French Frontier, and at no great distance from Labourd. It was within the jurisdiction of the inquisition established at Logrono in Castille. The mass of the population of this valley appear to have been sorcerers, and they held their meetings or Sabbaths at a place called Zugarramurdi.

A woman who was condemned implicated a number of other persons. All the persons arrested on this occasion agreed in their description of the Sabbath, and of the practices of the witches, which in their general features bore a close resemblance to those of the witches of Labourd. The usual place of meeting was known here, as in Labourd, by the popular name of Aquelarre, a Gascon word, signifying the meadow of the goat. Their ordinary meetings were held on the nights of Monday, Wednesday and Friday, every week, but they had grand feasts on the principal holidays of the church, such as Easter, Pentecost, Christmas, etc., All these feasts appear to have been fixed by the Christian teachers at the period of older pagan festivals.

The accounts of their Sabbaths are entirely similar to those given of such meetings elsewhere. They danced, sang took part in the most horrible orgies, and came into personal contact with Satan.

The auto-da-fe of Logrono, as far as it related to the sect of the sorcerers of Zugarramurdi, caused a great sensation, and brought the subject of witchcraft under the consideration of the Spanish theologians. These were so far more enlightened than the body of their contemporaries in other countries, that they generally leant to the opinion that witchcraft was a mere delusion, and that the details of the confessions of the miserable creatures who were its victims were all creations of the imagination. They were punished because their belief was a heresy, contrary to the doctrines of the church. Llorente gives the abstract of a treatise on this subject by a Spanish ecclesiastic named Pedro de Valentia, addressed to the grand inquisitor in consequence of the trial at Logrono in 1610, and which remained in manuscript among the archives of the inquisition.

This writer adopts entirely the opinion that the acts confessed by the witches were imaginary he attributed them partly to the methods in which the examinations were carried on, and to the desire of the ignorant people examined to escape by saying what seemed to please their persecutors, and partly to the effects of the ointments and draughts which they had been taught to use, and which were composed of ingredients that produced sleep, and acted upon the imagination and the mental faculties.

Spiritualism.-A writer in the Religious Philosophical Journal says The language that furnishes the largest number of periodicals devoted to the dissemination of the doctrine and philosophy of modern Spiritualism, is the Spanish. This statement will be somewhat surprising to many of our readers, for we have been accustomed to look upon the Spaniards as non-progressive and conservative in the extreme. Spain, until a few years, has always been intolerant of any religions except the Roman Catholic, and was the latest of European nations to yield to the spirit of religious progress. Protestantism has with the greatest difficulty obtained a foothold in that country within the last few years, but it has been attended with annoying restrictions and persecutions, while its progress has been exceedingly slow and discouraging.

Spiritualism in Spain commenced, as in many other lands, with a series of disturbances, which took place in a family residing in the outskirts of Cadiz. Stone-throwing, bell-ringing, and other preternatural annoyances were the first means of awakening attention to the subject, and as they occurred at the house of a Spanish gentleman who had just returned from the United States, full of the marvels of the Rochester knocking’s," circles were at once formed, intelligent responses by rappings obtained, and a foot-hold gained, upon which the edifice of Spiritual progress was upreared. So rapidly did the interest thus awakened spread, that the first promulgators were soon lost sight of, and as early as 1854, a society was formed at Cadiz, which was organised for the sole purpose of publishing the communications received from the Spirits" during two preceding years. From 1854 to 1860, Spiritualism spread through the principal towns and villages of Spain in the usual fashion. Circles were held in private families, and an endless number of societies" were formed and dissolved, according to the exigencies of the time. One of the first public events of note in connection with Spanish Spiritualism, was of so remarkable a character, that it deserves special mention. This was no other than an Auto-da-fe, the only difference between the occasion under consideration and the fiery executions of olden times being, that the victims were formerly human beings, whereas in the present instance, they were all the books, pamphlets, and works of a Spiritualistic character that could be procured at that period of the movement. Amongst the pile thus offered up on the altar of religious enlightenment - were the writings of Kardec Dufau, Grand, and Guldenstubbe; some copies of English and American Spiritual papers, and a large collection of tracts issued by the Spiritualists of Spain. This memorable scene occurred on the morning of the 9th of October, 1861, at the Esplanade Barcelona.

Among the well-know residents of Barcelona, was a Senor Navarez, whose daughter, Rosa, had for many years been the subject of spasmodic attacks, called by the Catholic clergy the obsession of demons "-by the medical faculty, an aggravated condition of epilepsy. Within two years after the Auto-da-fi, Rosa was pronounced entirely cured, by the magnetic passes of a gentleman who was the medium of the private circle held in the city, Shortly after this, Barcelona could boast of its well-approved Spiritual organs, numerous societies for investigation, and several mediums, who from their exclusive positions in private life, would object to their names being mentioned, The journal was published by Senior Alcantara, and was warmly supported by the Viscount de Torres Solanot, and numbers of other leaders of science and literature in Spain. By this publication the opponents of Spiritualism were amazed to learn of the immense progress the cause was making, and the number of distinguished persons who assembled nightly in circles to promote investigation. A circular calling the attention of the Spanish public to the phenomena of Spiritualism was published in 1875 by Viscount Solanot, The authors of this circular, met with no response worthy of their fraternal intentions. It might have been difficult to define exactly what the Spanish brethren proposed to do or wished others to unite with them in doing; certain it is, that no tangible results could be expected to follow from a very transcendental address to the scattered ranks of a movement, whose motto might well be Liberty, Inequality, and Disintegration: Our Spanish friends mean well, but is it possible there can be unity enough amongst them to send a delegation to America ? " asked one of the shrewdest on perusing this grandiloquent circular. Nothing daunted by the impossibility of getting an international representation worthy of the cause at Philadelphia, the energetic Viscount Solanot again agitated the subject previous to the Paris Exposition of 1878. In the articles written for El Criteno on this proposition, the Viscount names amongst those societies of Spiritualists prepared to promote an International representation, "La Federation Espirita," of Belgium; The British National Association of Spiritualists," England; " La Sociedad Central Espirita," of the Republic of Mexico; and " El Central General del Espiritismo." Notice is also taken, and with a hope of its ultimate success, of the attempt to form a national association and unite all the discordant elements under the one broad banner of simple Spiritualism.

Magnetism and Mediumistic Science.-In Spain as in Italy, a considerable amount of attention has been directed towards the unfoldment of Mediumistic power by means of Magnetism. Magnetic Societies abounded in Spain up to within the last few years, when many elements of internal discord prevailed in the ranks, and succeeded in dissolving the bonds which had united flourishing associations. Amongst the amateur mesmerists of Spain may be mentioned Don Juan Escudero, of Madrid, a gentleman who having witnessed some experiments in "animal magnetism " in California, tried its effect in his own family with success.

Among the numerous circles or " groups" formed in the different parts of Spain for the study of Spiritualism and its phenomena, was one of long standing at Tarragona called ‘ The Christian Circle," Quite recently the President of this circle sent the following communication to the Revue Spirite of Paris :-" The convict prison here in Tarragona has 800 inmates sentenced to forced labour By some means, Spiritualistic books have been introduced among the prisoners. The circulation of these books among them has been the means of bringing seventy or eighty of them to be believers in our doctrine. These converts have ceased to regard their miserable position from their old point of view; they no longer entertain schemes of revolt against the authorities. They endure their lot with resignation under the influence of the teaching that this world is hut a preliminary stage to another, where, if repentant of the ill they have done, and seeking the good of others, they will be better off than here. " Not long since one of these men died; at his death he declined the established offices of the prison priest, on the ground that he was a Spiritualist and did not need them. The priest then discovered that Spiritualism was a subject of discussion with many of the prisoners. He made a representation of the matter to his bishop, who made formal complaint of it to the commandant of the prison, and the commandant made an investigation. In the end a particular prisoner was selected for punishment in the form of an additional weight of fetters. This coming to the know-ledge of the Spiritualists of Tarragona, Barcelona, and Lerida, they had a meeting upon the subject and delegated one of their number, a man of position, to interview the commandant. The representations which he made, led the commandant to cancel his order as to the additional fetters. The bishop’s censure against spiritualist books placed them under prohibition, which was maintained. It is known, however, that although never found by gaolers, the books are still there."

In April, 1881, the editor of the Madrid El Criteno says :-that great progress has been made in the cause of Spiritualism; that the hall of meeting of the Spiritual Society is completely full every Thursday evening,’ and is not now large enough ‘ to hold the public who come to the sessions,’ that Dr. Merschejewski has called the attention of the University of St. Petersburg to a psychometric phenomena of much importance; to wit: A young man deemed from childhood to be an idiot, who will in some seconds solve any mathematical problem, while if a poem be read to him, even of many hundred verses, he will repeat the whole of it without failing in a single word." Senor Manuel Lopez in the same issue of El Criteno says, speaking of the progress of a society of Spiritualists in Madrid :-" We have received a mediumistic work of extraordinary merit, executed by a medium of the ‘Society of Spiritualists’ of Zaragoza. It consists of a portrait of Isabel the Catholic, made with a pencil, and is a work truly admirable. It is said by intelligent persons who have examined it to be an exact copy of one preserved in the Royal Museum of Painters of this court. Many thanks are tendered to the Zaragozan Society for this highly appreciated present. It was about the end of the year 1880, that the Spiritualists of Spain sustained another series of attacks from the Church. The first of these was the refusal of the clergy to accord the customary rites of interment to the remains of two ladies, both of irreproachable character, and good standing in society, but both ‘ guilty" of having believed in Spiritual manifestations. The second raid which the Church in Spain perpetrated about this time to the prejudice of the Spiritualists, was the suppression of a well-written Spiritual paper published at Lerida, entitled El Buen Sentido. The Bishop of Lerida had long threatened this step, and warned the editor to beware how he presumed to allow any writings reflecting upon clerical doings to appear in his columns. As some of the principal contributors were Madame Soler, Mdlle. Sans, Don Murillo, and others equally capable of arraigning the intolerant acts which Church policy seemed determined to push against the Spiritualists, it was scarcely likely that the Bishop’s threats would produce much effect. The last article which seemed to inflame the clergy to retaliate was an indignant protest which appeared in the columns of this paper on the condemnation of a working man to three years imprisonment, leaving a family of children destitute and all for speaking in public against the intolerance of the Church.

In a number of El Criterio, dated 1881, is a letter from Don Migueles, in which he gives a somewhat discouraging account of the cause " as it recently existed in Spain. The editor says :- "Don Migueles visited many cities to examine into the state of affairs of a spiritual nature, hut found many who were only to be enticed by physical phenomena. caring nothing for the esoteric beauties of our faith many who were convinced that they knew all there was to be known concerning it, and others who were timid fearing the disapproval of neighbours. In some places, however, excellent mediums were discovered. In Santiago, in Oviedo, in Corunna and Valladolid, an exceptional interest was manifest. Near Santiago, there was a young girl possessed of wonderful faculties. Two bars of magnetized iron held over her horizontally, half a metre distant, were sufficient to suspend her body in the air. " The proceedings of the Spanish Society, under the name of the Sesiones le Controvesio, in the month of April last, are spoken of in the Critic as markedly impressive on account of the lofty sentiments maintained throughout the discussions, by the various speakers. - In the past month were given also very interesting conferencias by our illustrious brothers, the Sres. Rebolledo and Huelbes. The able engineer and inventor, belonging to the Society of Santiago de Chili and founder of that of Lima, D. R. Caruana y Berard, has just arrived in Madrid. Tne Revista Espiritista of Barcelona mentions the visit which its editor has made to the central societies of Spiritualists of Sabodell and Tarrasa, where a great number of brethren were assembled on the occasion, and which will result in great good to the doctrine." The Barcelona Lux, of date 1881, gives encouraging accounts of seances held at Cordova, Tarragona, Seville, and many other places. The editor, Madame Soler, also refers to the prohibition to Catholics, by an archbishop to have or to read the Spiritualistic work of Niram Aliv : of the" Society of Spiritualists " of Tarrasa of the circle of Santa Cruz of Tenerif; of that of " Faith, Hope, and Charity," of Andujar, and of St. Vincent de Bogota.

Speal Bone, Divination by : A form of divination used in Scotland. A speal bone, or blade bone of a shoulder of mutton is used, but details of the method are wanting. A common soldier, accompanying Lord Loudon on his retreat to Skye, told the issue of the battle of Culloden at the very moment it was decided, pretending to have seen the event by looking through the bone.

Speers, Dr. : (See Moses, William Stainton.)

Spells : Spells, incantations, a written or spoken formula of words supposed to be capable of magical effects.

Anglo-Saxon spel, a saying or story, hence a form of words Icelandic, spjall, a saying ; Gothic, spilt, a fable.

The conception of spells appears to have arisen in the idea that there is some natural and intimate connection between words and the things signified by them. Thus if one repeats the name of a supernatural being the effect will be analogous to that produced by the being itself. It is assumed that all things are in sympathy, and act and react upon one another, things that have once been in contact continue to act on each other even after the contact has been removed. That certain names unknown to man, of gods, demi-gods. and demons, if discovered can be used against them by the discoverer, was believed in Ancient Egypt. Spells or enchantments can be divided into several classes as follows : (1) Protective spells (2) the curse or taboo; (3) Spells by which a person, animal or object is to be injured or transformed ; (4) Spells to procure some minor end, or love-spells, the curing of persons and cattle, etc.

The power of the spoken word is implicitly believed in by all primitive peoples, especially if it emanates from a known professor of the art of magic, and if it be in a language or dialect unknown. Thus the magicians of Ancient Egypt employed foreign words for their incantations, such as Tharthar, thamara, thatha. mommon, thanabotha, opranu, brokhrex, abranazukhel," which occurs at the end of a spell the purpose of which is to bring dreams. The magicians and sorcerers of the middle ages likewise employed gibberish of a similar kind, as do the medicine men of the North American Indians at the present day. The reason for the spell being usually couched in a well-known formula, is probably because experience found that that and no other formula was efficacious. Thus in Ancient Egypt not only were the formulae of spells well fixed, but 1 he exact tone of voice in which they were to be pronounced was specially taught. The power of a spell remains until such time as it is broken by an antidote or exorcism. Therefore it is not a passing thing.

(1) The protective spell.-The commonest form of this is an incantation, usually rhymed, imploring the protection of certain gods, saints, or beneficent beings, who in waking or sleeping hours will guard the speaker from maleficent powers, such as

"Matthew, Mark, Luke and John,

Bless the bed that I lie on."

Of a deeper significance are these supposed to be spoken by the dead Egyptian on his journey through Amenti by which he wards off the evil beings who would hinder his way, and so the serpent who would bite the dead is addressed thus: " O serpent come not! Geb and Shu stand against thee. Thou hast eaten mice. That is loathsome to the Gods. Thou hast gnawed the bones of a putrid cat." The Book of the Dead says, " Whoever readeth the spells daily over himself, he is whole- upon earth, he escapes from death, and never doth anything evil meet him," says Budge in Egyptian Magic, p.128. "We learn how great was the confidence which the deceased placed in his words of power, and also that the sources from which they sprang were the gods of Thoth and Isis. It will be remembered the Thoth is called the " scribe of the gods," the " lord of writing," the "master of papyrus," the " maker of the palette and the ink-jar," the "lord of divine words," i.e., the holy writings or scriptures, and as he was the lord of books and master of the power of speech, he was considered to be the possessor of all knowledge both human and divine. At the creation of the world it was he who reduced to words the will of the unseen and unknown creative Power, and who uttered them in such wise that the universe came into being and it was he who proved himself by the exercise of his knowledge to be the protector and the friend of Osiris, and of Isis, and of their son Horus. From the evidence of the texts we know that it was not by physical might that Thoth helped these three gods, but by giving them words of power and instructing them how to use them. We know that Osiris vanquished his foes, and that he re-constituted his body and became the king of the underworld and god of the dead, but he was only able to do these things by means of the words of power which Thoth had given to him, and which he had taught him to pronounce properly and in a proper tone of voice. It is this belief which makes the deceased cry out, " Hail, Thoth, who madest Osiris victorious over his enemies, make thou Ani to be victorious over his enemies in the presence of the great and sovereign princes who are in Tattu, or in any other place." Without the words of power given to him by Thoth, Osiris would have been powerless under the attacks of his foes, and similarly the dead man, who was always identified with Osiris, would have passed out of existence at his death but for the words of power provided by the writings that were buried with him. In the Judgment Scene it is Thoth who reports to the gods the result of the weighing of the heart in the balance, and who has supplied its owner with the words which he has uttered in his supplications, and whatever can be said in favour of the deceased he says to the gods, and whatever can be done for him he does, But apart from being the protector and friend of Osiris, Thoth was the refuge to which Isis fled in her trouble. The words of a hymn declare that she knew –"how to turn aside evil hap," and that she was -, strong of tongue and uttered the words of power which she knew with correct pronunciation, and halted not in her speech, and was perfect both in giving the command, and in saying the word," but this description only proves that she had been instructed by Thoth in the art of uttering words of power with effect, and to him, indeed, she owed more than this. Spells to keep away disease are of this class.

The amulets found upon Egyptian mummies, and the inscriptions on Gnostic gems are for the most part of a protective nature. (See Egypt and Gnostics.) The protective spell may be said to be an amulet ill words, and is often found in connection with the amulet, on which it is inscribed.

(2) The curse or taboo.-(a) The word of blighting, the damaging word. (b) The word of prohibition or restriction.

(a) The curse is of the nature of a spell, even if it be not in the shape of a definite formula. Thus we have the Highland curses: -" A bad meeting to you." "Bad understanding to you." -" A down mouth be yours" which are certainly popular as formulae.

Those who had seen old women, of the Madge Wildfire School, cursing and banning, say their manner is well-calculated to inspire terror. Some fifteen or twenty years ago, a party of tinkers quarrelled and fought, first among themselves, and then with some Tiree villagers. In the excitement a tinker wife threw off her cap and allowed her hair to fall over her shoulders in wild disorder. She then bared her knees, and falling on them to the ground, in a praying attitude, poured forth a torrent of wishes that struck awe into all who heard her. She imprecated "Drowning by sea and conflagration by land; may you never see a son to follow your body to the graveyard, or a daughter to mourn your death. I have made my wish before this, and I will make it now, and there was not yet a day I did not see my wish fulfilled." Curses employed by witches usually inferred a blight upon the person cursed, their flocks, their herds and crops. Barrenness, too, was frequently called down upon women. A person under a curse or spell is believed in the Scottish Highlands " to become powerless over his own volition, is alive and awake but moves and acts as if asleep." Curses or spells which inferred death were frequently mentioned in works which deal with Medieval Magic. (See Summons by accused.)

(b) The Taboo, the word of prohibition or restriction. This is found in the mystic expression " thou shalt not." Thus a number of the commandments are taboos, and the Book of Leviticus teems with them. The taboo is the "don’t" applied to children-a curb on primitive desire. To break a taboo was to bring dire misfortune upon oneself, and often upon ones family.

Of injuring or transformation of a person, animal or object there are copious examples. These were nearly affected by a spell of a given formula. Thus no less than twelve chapters of the Book of the Dead (chapters LXXVII. to LXXXVIII) are devoted to providing the deceased with words of power, the recital of which was necessary to enable him to transform himself into various animal and human forms. The Rev. S. Baring Gould in his Book of Folklore, page 57, says, that in such cases the consequence of a spell being cast on an individual requiring him or her to become a beast or a monster with no escape except under conditions difficult of execution or of obtaining. To this category belong a number of so-called fairy tales, that actually are folk-tales. And these do not all pertain to Aryan peoples for wherever magical arts are believed to be all-powerful, there one of it’s greatest achievements is the casting of a spell so as to alter completely the appearance of the person on whom it is cast, so that this individual becomes an animal. One need only recall the story in the Arabian Nights of the Calenders and the three noble ladies of Bagdad, in which the wicked sisters are transformed into bitches that have to be thrashed every day. Of this class are the stories of " Beauty and the Beast" and "The Frog Prince."

(4) Spells to procure some minor end, love-spells, etc., Love-spells were engraved on metal tables by the Gnostics, and the magicians of the middle ages. Instances of these are to be found in The Book of the Sacred Magic of Abraham the Jew (q.v.) Spells were often employed to imprison evil spirits.